A mentor, a brother, and a lover
by Yuna-flowering
Summary: Paine thought her past was gone forever, but the people she lost may be returning to her, in more ways than one. Better summary inside. PaineGippal, Aurikku, LucilNooj, BaralaiOC, YunaTidus. Complete!
1. The Crimson Squad

(Full summary- A description of Paine's relationship with Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai, with some action and people that were presumed dead reappearing thrown in. Primary focus is Paine and Gippal. Definitely worth your time if you like a couple of slightly less common pairings. The first chapter will be pre FFX-2 flashbacks, the second will be flashbacks to times during X-2. Some actual story will start in chapter 3, set just after the game's ending. Pairings are these- Paine/Gippal, Yuna/Tidus, Rikku/Auron, Lucil/Nooj, Baralai/OC. The whole brother thing is figurative, obviously Paine and Baralai aren't related. Updates may be a tiny bit infrequent, but I shall not stop in my quest to write a good Paine/Gippal! And I know you're all tired of this lengthy intro and AN by now, so I'll shut up. Without further ado, here is chapter 1)

"Firstly, you're just a kid. Secondly, you're a girl. Thirdly-" but the fat man who was taking applicants for the Crimson Squad didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. The tall sixteen year old girl with silver hair and crimson eyes, dressed all in black, and carrying a Warrior's sword that could rival Sir Auron's heavy katana leaned over the desk and grabbed the portly rich looking man by the collar.

"Listen Mister," she said. "You let women into the Crusaders, and I've seen you sign off on 'kids' younger than I am. So you'd better-" It was the teenager's turn to get interrupted..

"Fine," he said. "I'll let you in, but women can't fight. You'll be a Sphere Recorder for that team over there. Come to think of it, you troublemakers will probably do well together. Some jackass Al Bhed blew up the same way you did; you'll be working with him."

After treating the man to a glare, she accepted her papers, recorder, and spheres, and headed over to the three guys she'd been pointed to.

Her group consisted of a tall man with long brown hair and two machina limbs, who introduced himself stiffly as Nooj (_The Nooj? Nooj the undying? The Deathseeker?_), a soft spoken young man with platinum white hair, brown eyes, and bronzed brown skin whose name was Baralai (_Definitely looks like he was raised in Bevelle_), and the final member was an Al Bhed teenager, who introduced himself with a cocky wink as Gippal (_The jackass. Ha._ _Now he is... attractive? Well, I won't deny it, but he looks like he knows he's hot. He'll probably end up annoying me to hell_). As she got acquainted with her new partners, she never knew she was embarking upon a journey that would bring her 3 friends with whom she could trust her life, while simultaneously giving her somebody to love. The Crimson Squad would bring Paine a mentor, a brother, and a lover.

* * *

"Hey Paine." Somebody was poking her, and with great reluctance she opened her eyes to find a spiralled blue one about two feet in front of her face. 

"Gippal!" she snapped, more out of embarrassment than anger. "What are you doing in my tent? It's got to be after midnight."

"Come here," he said, wearing an evil grin. "You'll never believe what I saw." Grumbling about how this had better be good, Paine allowed herself to be dragged out of her tent and into the two man tent shared by Baralai and Gippal.

"Look at him," Gippal said as he snickered, gesturing to their innocently sleeping comrade. "He sleeps with a stuffed animal!" On closer inspection, Baralai was found to be clinging to a small yellow stuffed chocobo, which, due to the worn for wear look it had, Baralai had probably had since he was a young boy.

_Does he wonder WHY strangers think he's a... what did that guy say... a girly-man?_ She too snickered slightly. "So?" she asked.

"So... now we have dirt on him!" Gippal had a classic untrustworthy smirk on his face, and Paine knew he wasn't going to let Baralai live it down.

"Whatever," she said. "I'm going back to bed."

"Aww, come on Doctor P!" Gippal said. "You're no fun."

"And you're too much fun," Paine retorted smoothly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Too much fun..." he said, stroking his chin with a deliberately thoughtful air. "I like the sound of that."

_For Yevon's sake, that idiot transforms everything I say into some suggestive comment!_ She was blushing, and she couldn't let Gippal realize it. "You are a... idiot!" she yelled, raising an arm to smack him. Gippal caught her by the wrist before she hit him, and refused to let her go. "Am I really an idiot?" he asked softly, standing too close for Paine's current comfort zone.

_Why does he have to be so annoying! And charming too, that's the worst thing. He knows me too well, the egotistical git_. "Let me go," she hissed, giving him a glare that any other person would quail under.

He looked like he wanted to antagonize her even more, but then something changed behind Gippal's sparkling blue eye and he dropped her wrist. She turned on her heel and walked back to her tent without a word. Baralai had slept through the whole episode.

_

* * *

_

_Ugh... what happened?_ The last things she remembered were in a fog. They'd been fighting a Queen Coeurl, then she'd blacked out, but not before hearing three male voices scream "Paine!" She been revived for a brief moment to find Gippal staring down at her and saying she'd be okay, Baralai covering them, and Nooj still fighting the Coeurl, and then the world had blacked out entirely.

These memories rushed into her head as she slowly opened her eyes to find herself in her own tent. After thinking for a moment (which was hard, due to her current disoriented state) she concluded the Queen Coeurl must have got her with a Death Spell, and her brief moments of revival had been by Phoenix Down. She tried to sit up but the world swam before her eyes and she quickly lay back down to recover from the dizziness.

Baralai, who had been snoozing in the corner, looked up at the sound of movement and smiled wearily when he found her awake.

"Hey Sis," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. It had been 2 months since they'd first met, and Baralai (usually only when they were alone) often called her that, reflecting his protectiveness for the friend he'd come to love like a sister. Nooj said he was above such petty hobbies as nicknaming people, and Gippal preferred to annoy her by calling her Doctor P.

"How long have I been out?" she asked Baralai curiously.

"Almost a day," Baralai replied. "You've had us all worried about you. Even Nooj was worried, though he was trying not to show it." _Hmph. Typical Nooj_.

Just then, the tent flap opened and Gippal and Nooj looked through. Both looked visibly relieved to see her awake. Baralai stood up and winked at her before saying "I'll leave you two alone," and walking out of the tent, grabbing Nooj by the arm as he went by and pulling him out of the tent along with him.

_Damnit, why did he have to do that? I wonder what Gippal spouted off while I was out that made them think... no! Don't start thinking like that! That train of thought is strictly off limits! _

"Feeling better?" Gippal asked eventually, sitting down on the edge of the bed like Baralai had done. "You took quite a beating."

"State the obvious, why don't you," Paine muttered sarcastically.

"Sorry," Gippal said with a chuckle. Turning serious, he said "We were really worried about you. I-" but then he frowned and didn't finish the thought.

"I'm just glad you're alright," Gippal continued. "If we'd... if you'd... I don't know what I would have done." He offered her a weak grin that was only a semblance of his usual cocky smirk, and reached down to smooth stray strands of Paine's silvery hair away from her forehead.

Paine shivered at the gentle touch of his fingers, and suddenly became overly aware of the fact that Gippal's face was very close to her own. Part of her told her she was being silly, but it was overruled by a much larger part that wasn't quite sure of itself, lost in the depths of Gippal's blue eyes.

Whatever fragile spell that held her in the moment seemed to affect Gippal too. He slowly, almost timidly, closed the remaining gap between them and gave her a soft, gentle kiss that felt only half real. She was too shocked to respond in any fashion, and if she had she didn't know whether it would have been to slap him or kiss him in return. She was just... confused.

The moment was rudely broken by the sound of approaching footsteps, and Baralai's voice calling out "Guys?" Gippal and she quickly broke apart, and Baralai entered the tent to find a blushing Paine and a pale Gippal giving him strange looks. Paine saw his eyes flicker back and forth between them, and she suspected (but hoped she was wrong) that Baralai had a good idea of what had just occurred.

For the next several days, Paine and Gippal would tiptoe around each other, awkward in each other's presence and not sure of where they stood. Their behavior would not go unnoticed, and it was only with intervention from Nooj and Baralai that they'd eventually have a heart to heart talk about the feelings that existed between them.

* * *

Paine could not believe what was happening to her. The four of them had stopped at the Al Bhed Home as they passed through the Bikanel Desert, where Gippal had been warmly received by the Al Bhed's leader Cid, and Paine (who had only just learned of Summoner Yuna's lineage) had gotten a chance to meet the brother-in-law of High Summoner Braska and Summoner Yuna's Uncle. Both of Cid's children (including Gippal's ex-girlfriend Rikku) were away (she learned that Rikku had joined her cousin's pilgrimage, and that her older brother was off salvaging machina with a friend) and weren't on the island. 

Of course, you'd think such an innocent visit would have turned out perfectly fine. But _no_... Paine now found herself locked in a room with Gippal, fuming at the fact that Nooj and Baralai's plot (which seemed to involve everybody _except_ for herself and Gippal) had worked. Her anger was also tempered by a fear of what Gippal would say to her. She'd been reluctant to admit it, but she knew she had feelings for Gippal and was afraid that Gippal did not seriously return them.

"What did you mean by it?" she asked eventually. Gippal sighed and placed a hand on the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.

"I probably meant exactly what you thought I did," he said. "I thought that you weren't speaking to me because you were mad I'd taken advantage of you when you were weak in bed. To tell you the truth, I know I act like a... ladies man, but it's just in my nature. Besides-" at this point he cracked a grin. "It's fun. I really do... feel that way about you, and annoying you all the time was my way of saying it. I'm immature like that." He cracked another grin, and Paine almost laughed. _He's right on that one_.

Paine was speechless, but Gippal read her expression and understood. "You think I'm toying with you. You think I'm not serious." He sighed, but suddenly his face regained a bit of its mischievous glimmer. "I'll show you I mean it," he said. With two swift steps across the room, Gippal reached her and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

For a second Paine was shocked. After the shock wore off she briefly felt an urge to pull away and smack him, but gave in to her heart, which was telling her this felt right. She wrapped her arms around Gippal's neck and kissed him back; the two of them breaking away only reluctantly.

"Now do you believe me?" Gippal asked, with his familiar cocky smirk firmly in place.

_I suppose he'll always be the same old annoying Gippal_. "Yes," she told him with a rare smile. "And I've got a question for you. We've obviously done what the troublemakers wanted us to, so how are we going to get out of here? The only way they'd know when to let us out is if-" _oh no. I'll never live it down_.

"If they were watching us," Gippal finished. "We'll get revenge on them later, I assure you."

At that moment, a click sounded and the door slid open, admitting Nooj and Baralai. The former was only letting a flicker of amusement betray his otherwise typical stony expression; the latter looked openly pleased with the situation.

"Anything you two want to tell us?" Nooj asked, letting slip a rare smirk.

"Yeah," Gippal replied with an untrustworthy smirk of his own. "Watch your backs. You two have an appointment with Doctor Payback." That line caused all four of them to start laughing, and this would become one of the happy memories that Paine would return to on the long nights that waited in her future, the nights where she would lie awake and wonder whether her 3 friends were even alive or not, or whether they remembered her. This would become one of the memories that she held dear as she pursued her past.

_

* * *

_

_Nooj shot us... Nooj... Why? Baralai... Gippal... shot... where are they?_ She forced herself to sit up despite the sharp pain in her side where the bullet had grazed her. Looking around, she saw that Nooj was nowhere in sight, and Baralai was only visible as a figure in the distance, fleeing down the Mi'ihen Highroad as fast as his legs could take him. Gippal was not so lucky- he lay several feet to her left, face-down and unmoving. She staggered over to him, and gave him an X-potion before giving herself one as well. The powerful elixir healed her wound immediately, and Gippal also sat up and opened his eyes.

"Where's Nooj? Baralai?" Gippal was panicking. "We have to get out of here. Why would Nooj do that?"

"Search me," Paine said sadly. Her mind was still reeling. In the space of five minutes, she'd been betrayed by somebody with whom she would have entrusted her life without a second thought.

She was in a fog of shock and denial as Gippal said that they'd have to separate and find someplace safe, that now they possibly had more enemies after them, that it would be dangerous if they traveled together. Paine found herself wishing that this was all a dream, that she'd be able to wake up and Nooj wouldn't have shot them.

_Take me with you!_ Her mind was shouting, but the words didn't pass her lips. She opened her mouth but Gippal interrupted her. "Save it for later," he said, in a soft tender voice barely above a whisper. "We have to believe that we'll see each other again. All of us. Even Nooj. We have to believe there was an explanation behind it. We _will_ see each other again. Understand?"

Paine just nodded, not trusting her voice. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't put any of them into words.

"Goodbye." One last kiss, and he was gone. Gone out of her life forever, leaving a hole that would never mend. Or so she thought...

* * *

"Everyone...everyone has lost something precious. Everyone here has lost homes, dreams, and friends. Everybody... now Sin is finally dead." _I've lost friends, but for once it wasn't Sin's fault_, Paine thought cynically. The defeat of Sin, though a joyous occasion, only brought Paine part way out of her depression. She'd been living as a shell in a Luca hotel, coming outside only once to stand with everybody, facing Bevelle, and sing the Hymn of the Fayth. For that one night, the burden had been lifted off her chest and she felt connected again. But the Eternal Calm wasn't going her way. Nooj, Baralai and Gippal had disappeared without a trace, and the one man she'd been hoping to see appeared to be dead... again. She now stood in the Luca Stadium, listening to Summoner... no, High Summoner Yuna's speech, but her mind was elsewhere. 

"Now, Spira is ours again. Working together... Now we can make new homes for ourselves, and new dreams." _It's going to take me a long time to find dreams worth pursuing again_. She'd heard from the rumors that two of Yuna's guardians were dead. She didn't give a care for the first one. Apparently some blond Blitzer. The second one however... she'd wanted to see him, to know if he was the same Auron... She hadn't seen him for 10 years, and rumors had been flying around during that time that he was dead. She preferred not to examine her childhood memories of growing up in the Bevelle Temple, but she did remember a man called Auron, with dark hair and a red jacket, who'd come to visit her every day. As a little girl, she and Yuna had actually been playmates; their fathers were friends, and they'd stand together as Braska (who at the time was an apprentice summoner) and Auron, his friend who would later become his guardian, came in the door; they'd run to their fathers and be greeted warmly. But after Braska's calm had come, Yuna was taken away, and Paine's father stopped visiting her. For the next several years, the little girl would grow up in the Temple. If she thought hard enough, she could remember fleeting images of Baralai there too. At the age of twelve, she'd ran away, and at sixteen, she'd joined the Crimson Squad.

She had never before made the connection between her little playmate and the High Summoner. _You were my childhood friend. My father was supposed to have been your guardian as well as your father's. Where is he?_

"Although I know the journey will be hard, we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so let's start out today." _You can rebuild Spira, but you can't rebuild my life. Everybody I cared about is gone_. The wild cheers of the crowd echoed dimly in her ears.

"Just, one more thing... The people and the friends that we have lost, or the dreams that have faded... Never forget them." _You're right on that one. I won't forget my father, or my friends. Even if they all turn out to be dead, I'll keep the memories_.


	2. YRP

_They've all moved on, why can't I? I've been chasing my past for two years, but when it finally comes back I'm afraid to take it. Stupid, that's what I am. Baralai didn't even seem like he recognized me, or maybe he was just putting on a poker face. Never was able to tell what he was thinking. And Nooj... I can't face him, not yet. They all went on to become Spira's three big shots, and I was left behind. Maybe I should just try to forget. _

These were Paine's thoughts as they stood at the entrance to Djose Temple, waiting for Gippal to arrive to conduct the interviews for diggers out in Bikanel. Paine had been extremely reluctant to come here, but didn't express it due to the fact that it would lead Yuna and Rikku to ask awkward questions. She just didn't know _why_ she was afraid to see him. Perhaps it was fear that he'd forgotten about her and found some other girl (_or girls, knowing him_, Paine thought wryly). Perhaps it was jealousy that he was successful and had a new life, when she was still chasing their elusive past. Paine concluded that it was a little bit of both, with some other, bigger fear thrown in. A hint of the same fear she had for Nooj. She knew it was unfair to be afraid of Gippal when he hadn't been the one to shoot them, but the violent ending to that chapter of her life made her a bit fearful for everyone and everything that tied her to it, not just the man who had betrayed her.

And then he came. Paine held her breath without even realizing she was doing so as he walked by, rooted to the spot. It was the first time she'd seen him in person since the day they'd parted. She listened to Rikku and Yuna's discussion with a vague sense of amusement at how much they didn't know.

"That's Gippal, leader of the Machine Faction," Rikku told her cousin, who obviously didn't recognize the Al Bhed teen by face. "He can be annoying, but he's alright." _You've got that bit right, Rikku. I suppose you know him almost as well as I do_.

"He looks alright," said Yuna, and Paine felt a brief twinge of jealousy but dismissed it. Yuna was out looking for her disappeared blitzer boyfriend, after all.

They walked into the Temple where Gippal spoke to them (not recognizing anybody save for Yuna), then followed him outside to a bridge overlooking the water; Paine dragging her feet in apprehension the whole time.

"Never been this close to a celebrity before," Gippal said, putting on airs with Yuna. _Stupid jerk. Obviously doesn't give a rat's ass..._ But Yuna wasn't impressed. Gippal then turned from her to Rikku.

"Hiya Cid's girl," he said fondly, ruffling Rikku's hair. His all-too-predictable behavior was starting to piss Paine off.

"Hey, I have a name!" said Rikku, rearranging her hair.

"Sure you do," Gippal said with an easy chuckle. "So how's Brother these days?" _Why is he even asking? I thought Brother didn't like him_.

"He's alright," Rikku said with a smile. "Buddy's around too..."

"Right..." Gippal said, turning away from her. He finally noticed Paine and his good eye widened in shock. "You!" he croaked, coming to stand in front of her and look her in the face.

This was the moment Paine had been dreading, and she decided in a split second how to deal with it. She would sit down and talk with Gippal later. Right now, she didn't want to betray her past to Yuna and Rikku. Not to mention she was feeling a bit hurt by him for flirting with Yuna and seeming to have forgotten about her.

She decided to play it cool. Giving him a look that was a cross between don't-blow-my-cover, you-are-in-big-trouble, and I'm-sorry-for-doing-this, she said "The name's Paine," and acted as if she didn't know him.

"Right," he drawled slowly, looking at her as if he thought she was joking.

"We're here for the interview?" she said, giving him a look that pressed the point that she wasn't kidding. Gippal responded with a confused look of his own and murmured "Right... the interview..."

Eventually they got what they came for- a letter of introduction that they were supposed to bring to Nhadala in the Bikanel Desert. Giving her a last confused, slightly hurt look that made her feel guilty and almost want to reach out and hug him, Gippal bade them goodbye and left.

_

* * *

_

_Do we really have to do this?_ Paine was, not for the first time, not revealing her fear of her past to Yuna and Rikku as they walked towards the Den of Woe. She was currently immersed in bitter thoughts of what she'd like to do to her friends when her happiness with the situation went from low to nil as soon as they came into sight of the Cave entrance.

Nooj was there. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him face to face, but she'd been hoping to avoid close contact with him for as long as possible. She didn't know whether to hate him, fear him, or forgive him, and the tangle of emotions was something that had been gnawing away at Paine ever since she'd set eyes on him again in Kilika.

Paine soon found herself being dragged into an offer on behalf of the Gullwings to locate the rest of the Crimson Spheres for Nooj. Not that Paine didn't want to; on the contrary, she wanted to find some of her old spheres. It was just... part of her didn't want to give Nooj so much as the time of day, much less do this favor for him.

The situation got worse when Nooj, instead of giving the one sphere he had to an eager Rikku, walked past her and Yuna and stopped in front of Paine, depositing the sphere into her palm.

"Perhaps this is fate?" he asked. His eyes and the tone of voice let Paine read him like an open book. He was hurting inside, and wanted her to trust him. Hear me out, he was saying. I miss you. Give me another chance. But Pane was bitter, and didn't want to give him anything. He was acting as if his betrayal had never happened, and she injected all the venom of the past two years into her next four words.

"I don't think so."

Surprisingly, Nooj didn't look at all stung or offended by her words. He looked as though he had been expecting as much, and was resigned to it. He gave her a slightly pained look and left.

And then of course, the questions came from Yuna and Rikku. _I always knew my cover was going to be blown eventually_, Paine thought with a resigned sigh, and refused to give them any information other than that the past was in the past.

_

* * *

_

_I can't believe we're working with Leblanc. Not to mention it's not going to be as easy to kidnap Baralai as they're making it sound_. Herself, Yuna, Rikku, and the Syndicate trio were standing at the Gates of Bevelle, formulating last minute strategy. _And what a pitifully simple strategy it is_. _Waltz in, grab Baralai, and make him lead us to Vegnagun. Do they honestly think that will work?_

"Good enough for me!" the short round figure that was Ormi declared. "Our target is the New Yevon Praetor, Baralai!"

"A girly-man like that wouldn't be able to go anywhere without his escort," Logos added. Not only did this comment anger Paine for Baralai's sake, but she also knew they were underestimating him.

"Careful," she said before she could stop herself. "He's much stronger than he looks." She cursed herself for slipping up as soon as the words were out of her mouth. They all stared at her for a moment and Paine knew Yuna and Rikku were going to be even more curious about her past.

_I don't like this. Something about these underground chambers just reeks of secrets_. Paine shivered as they walked through the cold tunnels of the Bevelle Underground, and her ominous feeling was given a reason to be there when Baralai appeared from around the next corner.

"The Gullwings," he said, sounding mildly surprised. "I was wondering who was there." A heavy sigh, and Baralai focused his gaze on the ground.

"You don't have to tell me," he said, sounding almost ashamed of himself. "I know why you've come. You're here to destroy the weapon that threatens all Spira: Vegnagun. Am I right?" Another sigh and he continued. "If it could be destroyed we would have done so long ago. But Vegnagun must not be touched. Neither you nor Nooj seem to understand that."

_Oh, and he knows everything?_ "You talked to Nooj?" she asked her old friend curiously.

"He... cannot be trusted," Baralai said reluctantly. _Of course not. Nooj shot us. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him, but you're not much better_, _unfortunately_.

"And you can be?" Rikku asked him, mirroring Paine's thoughts perfectly.

"Touché," he responded, with a weak semblance of a chuckle. "Yes, I suppose Yevon has brought that distrust upon itself." Then his face hardened. "At any rate, you need not interfere. Leave Vegnagun to me."

"What are you going to do?" Yuna asked him.

"The only thing I can do," he replied softly. "Keep those who would seek to harm Vegnagun away. Please leave."

Paine felt anger rise within her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't trust her surrogate brother, and protecting Spira was more important. She took out her sword and shifted into a ready stance. "Yuna. Rikku," she snapped. "I'm going."

"Paine!" Baralai looked shocked, and reluctant to fight her.

"You have your reasons..." Yuna trailed off, watching her with wide eyes.

"You'll tell us later?" Rikku piped up, drawing out her twin daggers in support.

"Much later," Paine said, staring Baralai down. This was more emotionally trying for the female warrior then she let on; she didn't want it to come down to this; but it had to be done.

"You leave me no choice," Baralai said reluctantly. Drawing out a long double bladed staff, he faced off against them and the battle began.

Baralai finally collapsed on to his knees, gasping for breath and (for the moment) not even able to support his own weight. A large part of Paine, the same part that had suffered along with Baralai every time she'd seen him wince at one of her blows, wanted to give in to the urge to weep. It wanted to embrace him and tell him that she was sorry, that everything would be okay. But instead, she placed a hand on his shoulder for a brief moment, making all her feelings clear to him through her eyes. In a voice too low for Yuna or Rikku to hear, she whispered "I'm sorry," before leaving him there and following her companions to the next area, where they would face off against an Aeon turned evil.

_

* * *

_

_Do we have to come here again? If Baralai was anywhere in the Temple you'd think his followers would have found him by now. Instead they're just squawking about how they can't go on without him._ Paine was removed from her thoughts as they entered the Chamber of the Fayth when Rikku suddenly said "Is that Gippal?"

Sure enough, it was. The Al Bhed (how he'd snuck into Bevelle was beyond Paine) was standing there, and suddenly hopped into the hole where the fayth used to reside.

"What's he doing here?" Yuna asked aloud. _No idea, but I'd bet all my dress spheres he's not strolling around to pass time_. Paine was curious as to what Gippal was up to, but she reflected that, with the situation the way it stood now, that his affairs were no longer her concern. Still, she couldn't suppress the part of her that cared deeply and was worried.

After a moment, they decided to follow him. Keeping him in sight but staying well out of earshot, they followed Gippal all the way down to the same area where they'd fought Baralai. They stopped as Gippal walked out to the large chamber where Vegnagun had once stood, and Paine was shocked to find what seemed to be a pre-arranged meeting, with Nooj and Baralai already there. She watched carefully, the three of them peering around the corner.

"You're late," Baralai told Gippal, shifting uneasily in place.

"If you were on time I'd really start to worry," Nooj added, and Paine chuckled inwardly. Gippal had many good traits- he had a good sense of humor, he was charming, kind to others, outgoing, and a good leader. But one thing you could never depend on him for was punctuality.

_Uh-oh. This could get ugly_. Fear had gripped Paine's heart when Baralai touched on a very sensitive subject- Nooj's inexplicable betrayal. "I believed in you once, back when we were all trying for the Crimson Squad," Baralai said, with his back to Nooj. "I thought I'd never find a better friend. But you betrayed that all... two years ago." Nooj was silent.

Suddenly, Baralai did the one thing Paine had been hoping the three would avoid. Baralai whirled around to face Nooj and pulled out a gun, training it on the Youth League Meyvn's head. "Tell me why!" he shouted angrily. "Why did you shoot? We were friends, and you shot us in the back!"

Nooj was still silent, standing still as stone, looking warily at the gun barrel that was pointed between his eyes, and Gippal was forced into trying to play the mediator.

"Baralai! Just calm down!" he shouted. "Nooj, apologize already!"

When Nooj finally spoke, it didn't sound like him. The words that came from his throat were in an alien, strangely metallic voice that sounded like it belonged to another man. It was the same voice that Nooj had used when he'd shot them two years ago.

"Yes," Nooj said, in that strangely chilling voice. "I shot you. You were easy targets. You, and Paine."

"You shot Paine too? Why?" Baralai sounded as if he were trying to keep angry sobs out of his voice, and the hand that held the gun trembled slightly. "Answer me!"

"Baralai! Put the gun down! Don't push me..." When neither Nooj nor Baralai moved, Gippal pulled out a gun of his own. "If this is what it takes..." he said, pointing the gun at Baralai.

_No... No!_ "I've found that the mind that hates and despairs is the easiest to break." As Nooj continued speaking, seemingly in the third person, Paine realized that somebody or something else was using Nooj. _I should have known. The real Nooj never would have pulled a gun on us_.

"I do not expect you to present any greater of a challenge," Nooj (or whoever was controlling him) said. Then, a strange thing happened. A mass of pyreflies came out of Nooj's chest and entered Baralai's. Paine didn't stop to contemplate the meaning of the phenomenon. All she knew was that she wasn't going to let her friends do this to each other again. She'd had enough.

"Stop!" she yelled finally, dashing out to them with Yuna and Rikku close on her heels.

"Paine!"

"Stop, it's not safe!"

The shouts of Gippal and Nooj echoed in Paine's ears but didn't fully process in her brain. It was only when the three girls were attacked by a Marlboro that Paine stopped to think slightly. As they entered into battle with the fiend, Paine noticed out of the corner of her eye that Baralai was fleeing, jumping down the massively deep hole that Vegnagun had ripped open.

The fight was over minutes after it had started. Looking around, Paine spotted a small red object on the ground where the three guys had been standing. She stooped and picked it up; it was a sphere. One of hers from the Crimson Squad.

"Where'd they go?" Rikku asked curiously, looking around.

"I saw Baralai escape," Paine told them. "Nooj and Gippal probably chased after him."

"So..." Yuna said slowly. "You knew all three of them."

Paine sighed and ran a hand through her silvery hair. She knew they'd find out eventually, but she hadn't wanted it to happen like this.

"Long ago, yes," she said. And the reactions were just as she expected- Rikku bounced around asking insistent questions, while Yuna was curious but didn't pry like her cousin. _I have to make a mental note to tell Yuna the whole story first_, Paine thought to herself as they headed back to the Celsius_. Rikku will have it all over Spira in five minutes_.

_

* * *

_

_Is this a crowd or is this a crowd? _Paine had to admit- she was impressed. Shinra and Tobli's combined efforts seemed to be making "Yunapalooza" a smashing success. They would just have to wait and see if it worked to bring Spira together.

She stood in the background with Rikku as Yuna spoke to the crowd. Paine didn't listen or pay attention at all until the actual song started, then she found herself lost within its lyrics. As well as having meaning for Lenne, the song had a powerful meaning for Paine, and she found herself thinking about her relationship with Gippal, both past and present.

"I know that you're hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream." _My last pleasant memory of you was when we parted; one of the dreams I've been wanting back again_.

"But dreams could never fool me, not that easily." _I've always been practical, not expecting dreams to come true. Maybe I'm too practical_.

"I acted so distant then, didn't say goodbye before you left. But I was listening." _I've been distant with you ever since then. I didn't say goodbye to you, but I listened to your parting words, and I haven't stopped believing we'll reconcile someday_.

"You'll fight your battles far from me, far too easily." _I'm not always good at reading people, and you're good at keeping yourself behind that mask of a carefree flirt. Too good. You never seemed like you were suffering, and I have no idea what you've gone through_.

"'Save your tears 'cause I'll come back' I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door, but still I swore to hide the pain while I turned back the pages." _You told me to save it for later. You said we'd see each other again, and so we did. But I don't know if we'll ever really be together again_.

"Shouting might have been the answer; what if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart? But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart." _I wanted you to take me with you, but I didn't say it. Would you have let me come if I had? What would my life be like now if I'd gone with you? I might never know, but I know I'm not going to lose you a second time. If... When you guys come back, I'm going to tell you the truth_.

"'Cause a thousand words call out through the ages. They'll fly to you, even though I can't see. I know they're reaching you, suspended on silver wings."_ I've been stupid, treating you like I have. Wherever you are in the Farplane, I hope you'll forgive me_.

"Oh a thousand words, one thousand embraces, will cradle you, making all of your weary days seem far away. They'll hold you forever." _When you come back, we're going to have a long talk. Hopefully the four of us reconciling, and especially you and I, will heal the memories of the last two years. The painful ones, anyway. _

"Oh a thousand words have never been spoken. They'll fly to you; they'll carry you home and back into my arms, suspended on silver wings." _Things that should have been said between us weren't, but I'm going to make sure they're said. I want to have the feeling of being held in your arms again. I want you back; I want everything that happened to destroy our relationship to unmake itself_.

"And a thousand words call out through the ages. They'll cradle you, turning all of the lonely years to only days. They'll hold you forever..."

_

* * *

_

_I still can't believe Leblanc is doing what she's told for once. Does she really think Nooj is so madly in love with her? I mean come on... that girl's going to have to face reality someday_. Paine's attention was brought to more serious manners as the three girls, walking deeper into the Farplane towards Vegnagun, spotted Gippal on his knees, obviously injured in some way.

Paine had to stop herself from letting a strangled shout pass her lips and running to him. Instead, it was Rikku who shouted "Gippal!" and led the way over to the battered young man.

"I got... careless," Gippal said in a hoarse voice, and Paine frowned at him. A suspicion suddenly came to her, fueled by memories of his mischievous nature. Maybe he was playing it up? Maybe he wanted her sympathy? Paine knew very well she couldn't just stand there and stare at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked finally,

"I could use... a nap," Gippal said softly, wincing as he put a hand to his side. _Yep. That confirms it_. She knew he was genuinely injured, but now he was asking to be felt sorry for; he wanted Paine to show him sympathy.

"Where's Nooj?" Yuna asked him curiously.

"He went ahead." _Of course. Typical Nooj. The Loner_. Paine got even more annoyed when Leblanc, Ormi, and Logos appeared, but perked up when Gippal turned his attention to her.

"Hey, Dr. P.," he said. "A gift from Nooj." He held out his hand to reveal a sphere that Paine instantly recognized as one of her own.

"It's from two years ago," he continued. "Said it was inside the sphere camera."

Eventually, Paine got persuaded to watch it right then and there, and found herself reliving the memory of when they'd first discussed flying.

_Gippal: Whaddaya got in mind for fun? Any ideas, Dr. P?_

_Paine: Me? A ship that glides through the air. That thing you mentioned before. If it's for real, I wanna fly it._

_Baralai: You get to be pilot, then. And maybe I'll try my hand at navigation._

_Gippal: Then I'll be engineer!_

_Baralai: Nooj?_

_Paine: Captain._

_Baralai: Ah, that's perfect._

_Nooj: You'd let an amateur be captain?_

_Gippal: Chill out, Noojster. All you gotta do is shut up and look important and you'll fit the part._

_Paine: Like a glove._

_Nooj: I'll work you like dogs._

"What happened to that Paine, I wonder?" Paine murmured, thinking aloud as two-year old laughter echoed in her ears.

"She's inside you, sleeping," Yuna said cheerfully.

"Well, wakey wakey!" Rikku exclaimed. "Time to set sail!"

"Your captain and your navigator are waiting!" Yuna added as they stood up to move on, leaving Gippal in the care of Leblanc.

_Yes, my captain and my navigator are waiting. But not my engineer_.

"Both Baralai and Vegnagun belong to him now." Those were the first words out of Nooj's mouth, when they came upon him at the platform before a wary Vegnagun. Looking up, Paine could see a ghost image of Shuyin overlapping Baralai's body, forcing the helpless Praetor to play the instrument that was controlling Vegnagun.

"I have a plan," Nooj continued. "Don't call it a smart one, though."

If time had turned back to a point when Paine still thought Nooj had shot them of his own free will, she would have never listened to him or even thought about following his advice. Now however, Paine was remembering the man Nooj had been all those years ago.

"What's that?" she asked, part wary and part curious.

"He acts through another's body," said Nooj. "Stop the body and you stop him. I'll shoot Baralai."

"No!" Rikku shrieked, and Paine was tempted to copy her. _How could he even consider such a thing?_

"His body will be useless, but if we're lucky he won't die," Nooj said, and Paine marveled at how Nooj could talk about such a thing and still keep his stony face and even voice.

"Shuyin will abandon Baralai," Nooj continued. "And then he'll come back for me."

"What then?" Paine asked him, giving the question a decidedly hard edge to show her rejection of the idea.

"I will die. My body has already been rigged. I'm taking Shuyin with me."

Paine thought she might be sick. _Nooj can't do that!_

"Nooj..." Yuna trailed off awkwardly.

"But... you're our captain," Paine said. She couldn't think of anything else to say. All she knew was that she couldn't let Nooj do this to himself.

"Exactly," Nooj said, giving her an unreadable but nevertheless deep and significant look.

Finally, Yuna spoke up. "I don't like your plan," she said. "It sucks."

_Excuse me?_ Paine stared at Yuna, and Nooj and Rikku were also watching her inquisitively.

"Your plan is awful. Think about it. It's no different than what we did two years ago. We destroyed our own allies. We destroyed the aeons who had fought together with us, at our sides. We didn't have a choice then. We believed that was the only way we could save Spira. Do you know what it felt like to watch them die? Right before my eyes? It was the only thing we could do. It was the only choice we had. I gave in, I accepted, I believed. I allowed it to be true. I thought I'd be able to go through with it without ever doubting myself. But I... it hurt so much." Paine was stunned into silence at the emotion and truth behind Yuna's words.

"_Forgive us_," said a mysterious voice, sounding as if it belonged to a young boy.

But the High Summoner wasn't through yet. "Everyone was so happy," she said. "'Great job, Yuna. You did it. You saved us all.' There were too many smiles to count. And I know that... I was smiling, too. But now...when I look back... The people who should be here aren't. The ones who should be smiling with me aren't here." Paine knew by now exactly who Yuna was talking about, and felt a pang of empathy for her friend.

"_We had no choice_," said the gruff voice of a man.

But Yuna didn't agree with the voice. "'We had no choice.'" She continued. "Always 'we had no choice.' Those are our magic words. We repeat them to ourselves again and again. But you know... The magic never worked! The only thing we're left with... is regret."

"_I'm sorry_." said the man's voice again.

"No," Yuna said. "I don't want this anymore." She smiled slightly and continued. "I don't want friends to die, or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win. Nooj, I know that what you say is what you mean to do. Give me your resolve. Believe in Yuna."

_

* * *

_

_This seems too easy. Vegnagun defeated Leblanc and her goons, and Nooj and Gippal. It can't just be done like that_.

"What now?" she asked aloud.

"Maybe we're finished?" Rikku asked hopefully. Looking at Nooj and Gippal, Paine saw the same skepticism in her friends' eyes.

"Finished indeed," said a chilling voice. Paine turned to see Baralai, mainpulated puppet-like by the ghost of Shuyin, approaching them.

"Baralai!" Nooj yelled, but it was no use- the control of Shuyin over Baralai's body was absolute.

"All of Spira is finished!" Shuyin yelled, using a chilling mixutre of his own voice and Baralai's. At that moment, Vegnagun woke up and became active again.

"He's got a plan B too!" Rikku whined from behind her.

"_He's panicking_," said a familiar male voice, one that Paine knew she'd heard before but couldn't quite place. "_Yuna. End it now_."

"This is it everybody! Stay focused!" Yuna yelled, and they prepared for battle against the head of Vegnagun, which was being manipulated by Shuyin through Baralai.

When they finally disabled it for good, Yuna changed to her songstress dressphere, and Shuyin came towards them, using Baralai's body as his puppet.

"Shuyin," Yuna said softly.

"Lenne?" Shuyin asked hesitantly.

"There's something I must tell you," Yuna said to him. "Words left unspoken for a thousand years." She paused, and continued. "I love you. And I'm grateful...grateful that you stayed with me until the end."

"But... I couldn't save you!" Shuyin said desperately.

"It doesn't matter," Yuna said gently. "Please don't go on grieving alone." Her voice changed slightly, and Paine guessed that Lenne was speaking through her.

"Rest," she said. Shuyin pulled himself away from Baralai and approached them on his own; Baralai fell to his knees on the cold floor.

"We can finally fade... together?" Shuyin asked. Upon getting closer to them, Shuyin finally seemed to realize that Yuna wasn't Lenne.

"No," Shuyin said.

"Wait!" Yuna yelled, but the damage was done.

"You are not Lenne!" Shuyin shouted angrily, and attacked them.

When they finally defeated him, Yuna attempted to speak with him again. "Shuyin..." she murmured sadly.

"Don't try to tell me you understand," Shuyin muttered bitterly. At this moment, Lenne emerged from Yuna's body and went to her lover.

"Lenne?" Shuyin asked hopefully.

Lenne took his hand and he seemed reassured. "Hi there," she said affectionately.

"A thousand years, and this moment is all we get?" Shuyin asked angrily.

"This moment's enough. I don't need anything else. Just knowing how you feel is enough. Shuyin, let's end this. Let's go home."

"Can we?" Shuyin asked as he gazed into her eyes.

"That was all a thousand years ago. We've come too far to look back now. Rest, Shuyin. Rest with me." Shuyin slowly stood and they embraced.

"Let's go," Lenne continued. "I have a new song for you." For a moment, Lenne turned away from her lover and faced them.

"Thank you," she said to Yuna. She turned back to Shuyin and the two of them embraced, dissolving into pyreflies that disappeared. The first thing Paine did once she regained her senses was go to Baralai's side, comforting him while putting an arm under one of his shoulders to help him stand up. Gippal came forward and hoisted Baralai up under the other arm, and the three of them followed the others back out to the Farplane glen, where the airship was waiting.

(A/N: this deviates from the game, you'll see why later.) Looking over her shoulder, Paine realised that Yuna was lagging behind. She seemed to be speaking to an apparition of some kind, which Paine vaguely recognized as a fayth. The fayth spoke, and Yuna seemed to gasp before nodding. The fayth said something else (which Paine couldn't hear), and Yuna smiled. The fayth then continued speaking, and whatever it said made Yuna turn and look at them with wide eyes before turning back to the fayth and nodding vigorously. The fayth then disappeared, and Yuna caught up to them, with a hopeful twinkle in her eye and a secretive smile on her face.

"What was that? What's going on?" Rikku asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," Yuna said innocently. "The fayth said they were going to try and do something for me, and..." here she hesitated, as if not wanting to spill the secret, but continued anyway. "Something else that would sort of be for everybody, though it's got a, um, bigger connection to you two." _What in Spira is she talking about? What could the fayth do that both me and Rikku would want?_ Paine put the mystery aside for later analysis as they left the Farplane.

_

* * *

_

_I can't believe I was roped into this. I hate getting up in front of crowds_. Yuna had chosen to go back to Besaid, Rikku had reluctantly gone along with her cousin, and when the guys hadn't been able to persuade Yuna to stay and adress the people of Spira, they'd asked Paine to help them as the fourth member of their quartet, and she agreed. She hadn't been able to say no to Baralai's pleading eyes, Nooj's rare smile and Gippal's childlike begging.

"You're on, Doctor P.," Gippal whispered, and pushed her encouragingly to the front of the platform. The crowd quieted, and with a glance at her three friends Paine began.

"You wouldn't believe it, but the Mevyn of the Youth League and the Praetor of New Yevon weren't always fighting with each other," she said, with an internal smirk. "At one point, they were friends. We all were."

She retreated slightly and put an arm each around Gippal and Baralai's shoulders as Nooj stepped up. "Once my friends and I dreamed of flying," he said. "We would sail a ship, with me as its captain. In time, I became that captain. I found a new ship with new friends. My ship was the Youth League."

"Others chose a different captain," Baralai added, stepping forward. "Their boat was New Yevon."

Then it was Gippal's turn. "You know, I realize I'm like a lot of you people," he said, in his charmingly vivacious way. "We want a captain. And we want a ship to ride, but more important than that... Really, we all want to ride together." The crowd cheered.

"There are some things you can't do alone," Baralai said with a smile. "But they become easy with friends beside you."

"For the last year, I've had to sit by and watch my old friends fight with each other, and there was nothing I could do about it," Paine said, feeling her throat constrict slightly.

"This was the lesson we learned when we launched those ships," said Nooj, putting a hand on her shoulder and offering her a comforting grin.

"It was power... And we misused that power," Baralai said sincerely. "We turned our friends and our followers against each other."

"Forgive us," said Nooj, and he and Baralai bowed their heads. After sharing a quick half glance with each other, Paine and Gippal did the same. The crowd sounded vaguely dissatisfied.

"Somehow we forgot," Baralai said after a moment's pause. "There's a much larger ship out there. One we've been riding ever since we were born. That ship is Spira." This line seemed to turn the opinion of the crowd back in their favor and they applauded.

"No one knows just where our voyage will lead us," Nooj said with a confident look. "But we do know one thing: One way or another, we will get by. We'll go on living. The Calm will continue." Paine felt a vague sense of pride in him. In such a short time, Nooj had completely changed.

"Just one more thing," Gippal said with a grin. "We all owe thanks to a very special lady." The crowd cheered at the mention of Yuna and Paine felt the briefest twinge of jealosuy but dismissed it.

"Yeah, you all know who I'm talking about." _Just loves the attention, doesn't he?_ "We really hoped that she could be here today. She left a message, she said she's going home. So farewell, but not goodbye."

At that moment, the Celsius came into view over the stadium. Brother came on the loudspeaker of the crimson airship and shouted "See you next time, kiddies! Yeehaw!" Paine could just make out two figures on the deck that were waving madly, and she waved back. Then the airship turned and sped off into the brilliant blue sky, headed for Besaid.


	3. Him

Paine had a strange feeling. Ever since they'd left the Stadium, the four of them piling on to Baralai's personal airship to go to Besaid and join the party there, Paine had been feeling as though there were something waiting for her at Besaid, something important. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but neither would the thought stop bugging her. She decided to go onto the deck to get some fresh air and simply wait the strange feeling out. But when she got there, it was to find that the deck was already occupied by Baralai, Nooj, and Gippal. Not to mention they were talking about her.

"Fryd tet E tu fnuhk?" (What did I do wrong?) Gippal asked aloud.

"Fedr fryd?" (With what?) Baralai replied, and Paine did a double take before remembering that Gippal had taught them all Al Bhed back in the Crimson Squad.

"Paine," Gippal said, reverting back to English. "She's been avoiding me like the plague. I never meant to hurt her."

"Of course you didn't" Nooj interjected, sounding vaguely cynical. "Neither did I. But did I do it on purpose?"

"Not funny," Gippal said sharply. "Stop beating yourself up over it." He sighed and ran a distracted hand through his spiky blond hair. "Seriously though. I want to talk to her, but I don't know what to do."

"She'll come around," Baralai said kindly, patting his friend on the back. "We only just got back from the Farplane and I for one am still partly in shock. Give her some time." He stood up and extended a hand to pull Gippal to his feet. "Let's go inside," he said. "I'll buy you a drink." Gippal and Baralai left, passing right by Paine without noticing her.

After a moment, Paine ventured out to the edge of the deck where Nooj was still sitting. Had time turned back to before the Vegnagun incident, Paine would have left rather than face him, or a sarcastic comment would have found its way out of her mouth. Now however, Paine decided she wanted to talk to the man who'd always been their leader, her close friend, and a good source of advice.

Nooj didn't seem at all bothered by her sudden appearance, and didn't say a word until she too was sitting on the deck beside him.

"How much of that did you hear?" Nooj asked, and Paine was speechless.

"Most of it," she admitted. "How'd you guess?"

"Call it intuition," Nooj replied. "Gippal's really beating himself up over you, you know."

"Do you have to make me feel even more guilty?" Paine snapped. "I've been doing my own fair share of scolding myself, trust me. I just... I'm scared." Paine was briefly surprised she'd been able to admit such a thing. "It's strange, but then I suppose you wouldn't understand. You've never been-" but she broke off when she felt Nooj's piercing gaze on her.

He raised an eyebrow and said "Actually, I have."

"What?" Somehow, Paine had always considered Nooj to be too bitter, too introverted to ever fall prey to Cupid's arrow. _But here he is admitting it_.

"You heard me." Nooj sounded vaguely amused at Paine's obvious surprise, but mixed with the amusement was a proper amount of shyness at so bluntly divulging personal secrets.

"Who?" Paine asked curiously.

A brief pause came and went. "Will you keep it between us?" Nooj asked, not looking at her, and Paine got the impression that Nooj wanted to talk to somebody about this girl, whoever she was, but hadn't been able to find a confidant.

"Of course I will. I'm not a blabber mouth like Rikku. Or Gippal, for that matter."

That line got a quiet chuckle out of Nooj before he turned serious, and a single word escaped from between his pensive lips- "Lucil".

"Lucil? As in your second-in-command of the Youth League? The redhead?"

"The very same." She snuck a glance at him, and was faced with something she never thought she'd see- Nooj actually showing feelings. His head was bowed, he was staring at the cold metal of the deck between his knees, but Paine could clearly see the tips of his ears turning red, betraying his stoic exterior.

"You should talk to her," Paine said, and when Nooj looked up there was a spark of humor in his eyes.

"This coming from the woman we had to lock in a room with Gippal to initiate anything?" he asked, and Paine grinned a little.

"Touché," she muttered. "Would you like me to do the same for you?"

"I don't think so," Nooj said with a chuckle. Turning serious, he said "I'll work it out." He stood up and extended a hand to pull Paine to her feet. "Thank you," he said softly as they took the airship's elevator down to the bridge.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

"Gippal! And Paine! You guys have to come see! Tidus is back! Yunie found him! We're having a party!" When the four of them had entered Besaid village, they'd been confronted by a hyperactive yellow blur. As Rikku jumped around eagerly spilling out news, it occurred to Paine that the blonde Al Bhed was even more cheerful then usual. 

"Rikku, what're you doing? Ouch!" These protests came from Tidus, who Rikku had broken away from a cloud nine Yuna and was dragging over to meet them.

"Guys, this is Tidus, Yuna's boyfriend! Tidus, this Paine, we already told you about her. And this is Baralai, Nooj, and Gippal!"

"Nice to meet you," Paine said civilly, taking in the sight of the golden haired teen, deciding that it was too early to form an opinion but being happy for Yuna. She of course already knew that he greatly resembled Shuyin and wasn't shocked, but for the three men next to her it was a different story.

All three of them had their mouths open in shock; Baralai was the first one to recover. "Shuyin..." he hissed, glaring at a now bewildered Tidus.

Gippal was next before Paine could stop him. "Give us three good reasons we shouldn't kill you right here and now."

"Who's Shuyin?" Tidus asked, darting behind Rikku and bending a bit at the knees so as to use her as a human shield. "What'd I do?"

"Yunie will explain about Shuyin eventually, and you didn't do anything," Rikku said with a sigh as she dragged him out from behind her. "He's not Shuyin guys, he just looks like him. It's not his fault."

"He's... not?" Baralai asked, now turning red from embarrassment.

"No! Honestly... you guys are so dense. Paine, come with me. We need to talk. We'll leave the guys to get acquainted." Paine reluctantly followed her, looking back over her shoulder to find Baralai and Gippal now apologizing profusely.

Rikku didn't stop until she'd dragged Paine into a vacant tent and closed the flap to insure their privacy. "There's something you need to know, and Yunie told me to explain to you before you got surprised." A fraction of a nervous pause came and went and Rikku gulped. "Tidus wasn't the only one who came back."

"What do you mean he wasn't the only one? Who else appeared?"

Rikku looked down and squeaked out "Auron", before cringing as if she expected Paine to blow up.

"What? Auron's here? My father? Where? Hang on a second... you don't seem at all surprised."

"Yunie told me," Rikku said nervously. "She remembered you from when you guys were little kids. But Auron actually died when he was 25, so he was brought back at that age..."

"So you're telling me my father's been brought back from the dead looking only 7 years older than I am?" Paine pinched herself and it hurt. She could not believe this. Not that she wasn't happy, of course... but it was a shock. As Rikku continued her tale, Paine was quickly becoming more and more amazed.

"You were what? When he was looking how old?" _This is all a dream. I have to be dreaming. There is no way Rikku and my 25 year old father are... ugh_.

"Let me get this straight. You were in love with him when you guys were on Yuna's pilgrimage, when he looked like he was in his thirties, now he's been brought back looking twenty-five? Yevon save me, I think I need to go have a lie-down..." she sighed and looked up at the fearful looking girl.

"If you're looking for my blessing you've got it. I can't say I'll ever be able to get completely used to the idea of my father, who also happens to only be seven years older than me, and my friend..." she shrugged. "But you didn't know. So where is he?"

Rikku cast a glance over Paine's shoulder and giggled nervously. "He's... heh heh..."

"I'm right here." Paine whirled around on the spot to find Auron, looking exactly as she'd remembered him at 25. Minus the sunglasses and with two functioning eyes, but the scarlet coat, jug of sake at his hip, and raven black hair tied into a thin ponytail were all the same.

_Oh. My. God_.


	4. Of talking and drinking

For several long moments neither of them moved, both looking deep into the other's eyes. Paine made the first move moments later, taking a hesitant step forward in front of him.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, at a loss for words. Auron looked slightly apprehensive, as if he were expecting a bad reaction from her. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that not only was he only seven years older than her, but that she was as tall as him or only marginally shorter, looking level into her father's brown eyes. Paine felt herself rooted to the spot, fearing that he'd disappear if she moved.

"For Yevon's sake! Come on you two!" Rikku walked over to them, put a hand on each of their backs and pushed them together. Father and daughter fell into the hug. Paine buried her face in her father's shoulder, while Auron embraced his only child. She didn't say a word, but all of the memories of her father holding her like this when she'd been a small child rushed back into her head, and a silent tear escaped against her will.

"That's better," Rikku said with a grin. "You two are so awkward with feelings you'd have both stood there for another ten minutes." She left them alone, muttering something about checking up on the love birds.

"I hardly recognized you, you've grown up so much," said Auron, with a slight grin. "You look so much like your mother..." Paine grinned in return, and gestured to the makeshift couch.

"Did Rikku see fit to tell you why I disappeared for ten years?" Auron asked, as the two of them sat down.

"Yes, and before you ask I forgive you for it. At the time when I was six or so I'd thought you'd died. And once you, Braska, and Yuna were all gone, I was lonely there in the Temple, but I was never pissed at you for leaving."

"Speaking of the Temple," Auron said suddenly. "When I returned to Spira I checked at the Temple in Bevelle before I joined Yuna in Luca, and I was told you'd long since ran away. When did that happen?"

Paine was surprised; not at the question, but at his tone of voice in asking it. He seemed proud that his daughter would assert her independence in such a way.

"I was twelve," she said with a grin. "I'd gotten sick of it. I was only a burden on their hospitality anyway. I refused to become an acolyte or get involved with any of the religion at all, I ran around sword fighting with the boys all the time, and I was an orphan."

Auron chuckled at her narration. "It sounds as if I don't need to be worried about whether you turned out alright or not then," he said.

"Tell me about my mother," Paine said suddenly, as she stretched out on the couch, propping her boots up on a nearby table. "All I ever got was that I was born out of wedlock and she died in childbirth."

"Hm... the second one is true, but the first is only partly true," Auron said thoughtfully. "At the time of your conception, I was an 18 year old Warrior Monk. Only a few days after she informed me she was pregnant I was 'offered' the hand of the High Priest's daughter, basically meaning I had to marry her or I'd be ruined forever. I refused, naturally, and I was outcast from the Warrior Monks. I believe Kinoc, who was actually a friend of mine at the time, ended up with her. Your mother and I got married privately, but it was never recognized by Yevon. Not to mention she was already pregnant, so you are technically an illegitimate child."

"Then what?" Paine asked softly, when Auron hesitated.

"Yours was a... difficult birth," Auron said slowly. "You weren't the smallest of infants, and your mother wasn't the most robust of women. She was in labor for two days. I was present, naturally, and she told me what to name you and to take good care of you with what little strength she had left. They... couldn't stop the bleeding." Here he paused to compose himself. "She... died about an hour after the fact."

Paine had to force herself not to cry. She always knew her mother had died giving birth to her, but to have the details pounded home in such a personal matter made her feel almost... personally responsible for it.

"Then of course," Auron said as he continued with the history. "Here I was, scorned by the Temple, only 19 years of age, and I had a baby girl on my hands."

"That must have been a wonderful period in your life," Paine remarked sarcastically.

"Oh yes," Auron replied would-be-cheerfully, almost fooling Paine into missing his own sarcasm. "On a day to day basis I left you in the Temple nursery, but I paid for your upkeep and that sort of thing." Here he paused. "A year or so later I met Braska, whose own wife had been killed by Sin when Yuna was eighteen months old, and that had driven him to become a Summoner. At the time I believe he was 23, a year into being an apprentice summoner."

"How long does Summoner training take?" Paine asked curiously, realizing she'd never bothered to find out from Yuna.

"Six years," Auron replied. "Anybody from age ten to twenty-four is considered the optimal age to begin. Yuna was young to be starting when she did."

"Time passed, Braska became a good friend and somebody I looked up to. We talked a lot about our similar problems with you and Yuna. I promised I would travel with him as one of his guardians when he finished his training. Eventually of course, that time came." He sighed and took a drink of whatever liquor was in his jug before continuing.

"Do you remember meeting Jecht?" Auron asked suddenly. "You were barely six at the time, but I do recall we brought him to meet you and Yuna in the couple of days before we left Bevelle."

"Hm, I'd have to think... I never really liked poring over those memories." If she thought hard, she did remember one distinct memory of a third man, a cheerful darkly tanned man with long brown hair who had said that he had a little boy about their age that would have loved to be there.

"Yes, well you seem to have forgotten part of it," Auron said with humor in his voice when she related what she remembered. "Both of you adored him, but when he first walked in with us you were both quite scared of him. Once we comforted you and Jecht started in on some greatly exaggerated story of his blitzball achievements you were fine."

It was Paine's turn to ask a spontaneous question. "What did my mother look like?" she asked curiously.

"You look a lot like her," Auron said, "but you seemed to have inherited my height and attitude for being a trouble-maker." Paine chuckled appreciatively.

"She was fairly small, about 5'3" and very slender. She had the same silver hair as you do, but she always kept hers cut long. She had your same eyes too, that rare shade of maroon, or crimson; whatever you wish to call it. She was a beautiful young woman, just like you." The last was said in a bittersweet tone of voice; Auron clearly regretted not having been there for Paine while she was growing up, and it moved Paine deeply.

"After your mother's death, I... swore off women for some time. I got plenty of... offers while I was in Zanarkand, and I think Tidus' mother wanted me for a time, probably because I was the closest thing she had to Jecht, but of course I... kept my distance. Then Rikku joined Yuna's pilgrimage, and..."

"It all went downhill from there," Paine finished for him with a grin.

"So," Auron said as he stretched his arms above his head. "What did you do after you escaped from Bevelle? By the way, I am sorry for leaving you there. If I'd thought about it I might have asked Kimahri to bring you to Besaid along with Yuna."

"It's okay," she reassured him. "After I left I spent most of my time in Luca, hanging around with the Crusaders there. I considered becoming a guardian, but I didn't want to... commit myself when I knew the end result. Just after my sixteenth birthday, I joined... well, I tried out for the Crimson Squad, which was basically going to be a band of elite Crusaders founded by Maester Kinoc."

"Kinoc?" Auron asked sharply. "Anything with that man behind it can't have had pure intentions."

"It didn't," she informed him. "The guys and I almost got killed."

"Guys?" Auron enquired.

"Yeah, the three guys who were on my team." She spent the next 20 minutes telling him about Nooj, Baralai, and Gippal, and outlined what had happened to them all over the past two years. She then spent a further half an hour outlining the Vegnagun incident, touching on Shuyin and Lenne, and bringing him up to speed with the current happenings. By the time she finished her throat was hoarse, and she glimpsed that it was getting late in the afternoon. She also realized she was hungry.

"I suggest we join the festivities," Auron said as he stood up. "Are 'Spira's three leading big shots' here at the moment?"

Paine chuckled at the description, which she remembered was first coined by Buddy. "They should be," she said as she led the way out of the tent.

When she emerged, it was to find that the approaching dusk had led to a bonfire being built in the middle of the square. The food and alcohol seemed to be making their rounds as well; the party was getting into full swing.

Looking around, she saw that Gippal, Wakka, and Tidus were all over in a corner engaging in a very animated conversation involving a lot of gesticulating; most likely about blitzball, Paine assumed. Baralai was dancing with and appeared to be making polite conversation with an Al Bhed girl, and Nooj was seated on an overturned crate, sipping a glass of something and calmly surveying the proceedings.

Without thinking, Paine moved to the refreshments table and mechanically took a glass of something before even looking at it; it looked to be an interesting concoction that definitely smelled alcoholic. _I haven't had so much as a drop of liquor in... two years_, Paine thought as she looked down at the mug in her hand, and decided she might as well be daring.

One hour later, as the sun was setting and the stars were beginning to come out, Paine was drunk. So drunk that her usual stern self-imposed inhibitions and sense of good judgment had fallen away entirely. So when an equally drunk Gippal started dragging her away from the party into a vacant guest tent, her delusional self decided to go along with it. Her conscience and sense had all but disappeared, and the suggestion that Gippal had planted in her mind was in charge. When Gippal pushed her onto the bed and kissed her, fumbling with the buckles of her shorts, she was so lacking in foresight and caught up in the moment that she willingly gave into him, the two pulling off each other's clothes in a drunken passion. When she woke up the next morning with a hangover, Paine would thank Yevon she didn't remember the details.


	5. The morning after

The sunlight shone red-gold against Paine's closed eyelids, but she rolled over and muttered "don't want to get up..." to nobody in particular. She'd been having a pleasant dream, but now the details were slipping away from her increasingly awake mind like grains of sand escaping through an hourglass. All she remembered was that Gippal had been there, and that she'd felt oddly... happy.

Finally, she gave into to the pull of her internal clock and cracked her eyes open. "Ugh... I have a headache," she muttered. Her mind was processing slower than usual due to the hangover she had, but she still tensed up when she realized she wasn't alone. There was another pleasantly warm, fast asleep body in the bed. Within the space of a second, she quickly realized two things that sobered her up immediately. Firstly, the other person in her bed was Gippal. And secondly, her and Gippal's clothes were in a careless pile on the ground. Which meant...

"Damn!" she swore aloud. _How wasted did I get? What in Yevon would persuade me to... ew. I'm glad I can't remember anything_.

A small part of her, looking at Gippal's peaceful face as he slept, wanted to stay there with him, to relax beside him, to wait until he awoke and confess that she did, after two years, still love him as much as ever. But that emotional part of her was squashed by her ever-practical mind, which was partly pissed at him and partly afraid that her heart would be shattered if she took the leap of faith and placed it in Gippal's hands.

After hurriedly pulling on her clothes, she knelt down by the bed and watched Gippal for a moment. He looked so... innocent, with his golden blonde hair framing his forehead, his surprisingly gentle-looking face, his well toned chest gently rising and falling. She felt a pang in her heart, but she knew this wasn't the right time. She wasn't going to spring this on the both of them, not yet.

She reached out and briefly stroked his cheek with a finger, and had to blink tears out of her eyes. "Sorry," she said softly. "Someday soon we'll talk, but not now. I... I can't." She then hurried out of the tent, not wanting to be there when he woke up.

Ten minutes later, Paine found herself in Lulu's kitchen, sitting with Rikku, Tidus, Auron, and Yuna and drinking a mug of herbal tea that Lulu said had been made especially to cure hangovers. _It certainly got rid of my pounding headache_, Paine thought to herself, and made a mental note to not let herself get that drunk in the first place next time.

"Are you the only one of us who didn't get drunk?" Tidus asked Auron grumpily, and Auron seemed vaguely amused at the question.

"No," was his matter of fact reply as he took a sip from the glass of simple water that sat in front of him on the table. "Your friends, the Meyvn and the Praetor, they're as sober as I am." He chuckled quietly when Tidus glared at him.

"Well you'd think they would be, wouldn't you?" Yuna said. "Baralai's a religious leader so he couldn't if he wanted to, and Nooj doesn't seem the type."

"Nooj doesn't 'seem' the type for anything," Paine muttered sarcastically, prompting laughter from the two others who knew him. "If you went by the way he acts you'd never be able to believe he's barely 21."

"He's been through a lot," said Auron. "I didn't lose an arm and a leg, but I can still sympthasize with his actions."

"Course you could," Rikku said, poking him in the shoulder as if to further emphasize her point. "You both need to loosen up."

"Agreed," Paine said, and Auron frowned at her before resuming his silent contemplation of the glass he was turning in his fingers.

"So, Paine," Rikku said with a giggle. "Where were you last night? You disappeared."

"Minus five, Rikku," Paine snapped, forcing down the heat that was rising in her face. Rikku promptly started to pout, and Paine turned the tables.

"If you're not happy then I could turn the question back at you," Paine said, a smirk slowly finding its way onto her face. "What were _you_ doing last night?"

"Sleeping," Rikku said defensively. Paine raised an eyebrow at her, smirking even more. "On the couch in Yunie's tent!" she added, blushing scarlet. Auron's eyes flickered from Rikku to his daughter and back, and the meaning suddenly seemed to click for him. He choked on his water, and, after he recovered, sent Paine, Yuna, and Tidus (who were on the opposite side of the table from himself and Rikku) a part embarrassed and part annoyed look that quite plainly said _shut up_. His glaring at them simply caused the three young adults to find the situation even more amusing.

"I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but Yevon save me." Paine looked up and saw that the speaker (Nooj) had just appeared inside the doorway, looking slightly out of breath and for all the world as though he'd been running away from something (though Paine wasn't sure whether or not Nooj was capable of running). Nooj sat down next to Rikku and grabbed the pitcher of ice water, pouring himself a glass while keeping one eye trained on the doorway, as if he expected a fiend to run in and ambush them.

"What's up with you?" Tidus asked eventually.

"I woke up Gippal," Nooj said with a grimace. "And he attempted to strangle me."

Paine couldn't help herself; for the first time in a long while, she started genuinely laughing. Gippal was definitely not a morning person, and waking him up when he was 100 percent sober and had had "enough sleep" (which for him was ideally ten hours) already promised you a very grumpy and unpredictable person (until he had his coffee, after which he became hs usual cheerful self). Waking him up when he had a bad hangover was signing your last will and testament.

"I appreciate the fact that you find amusement in my imminent demise," Nooj said dryly. Paine quieted but told him he'd been asking for it.

"Where is he then?" Rikku asked curiously.

"Probably deciding whether he wants to keep ranting and raving about being woken up, or moan about what a headache he has," Nooj replied, sounding amused now that he wasn't in danger of bodily harm any longer.

"Neither, actually. I do have a bloody painful headache, and I am going to get my revenge for being so rudely shoved out of bed, but I decided to put aside my annoyance until such time as I'm completely awake and alert." Paine looked up to see Gippal, trying and failing terribly to sound much more mature and serious then he was. Gippal plopped down next to Auron and moodily stared at the table, and when he kneaded his forehead with his fists and started moaning about his hangover they all shared a laugh at his expense.

"Here," Lulu said eventually, taking pity on him and giving Gippal the herbal draught she'd already given to the rest of them.

Gippal drained half the cup in one gulp and brightened up almost immediately. "You're a lifesaver," he told Lulu sincerely.

For a few minutes a serene silence reigned over them. For her part, Paine was thankful that Gippal wasn't sitting directly across from her, because she didn't have to fear that she'd look up and be caught in his gaze. If Gippal even realized what they'd done, he seemed to be pretending that it hadn't happened, and Paine decided she would take her cue from him.

The peaceful quiet was broken by the coos of a young child, and a heavily accented masculine voice saying "Morning, Lu. Even Vidina slept in late today, ya know?" Wakka had just appeared in the kitchen, holding his baby son in one arm and rubbing sleep out of his eyes with the other.

Lulu gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek before saying "Sit and take some tea; it will wake you up right away." She took Vidina off him and proceeded to feed the restless infant.

Wakka did as he was told, watching Lulu bustle around the kitchen with amusement in his cinnamon eyes. "That's Lulu for ya," he said with a chuckle. "Always has to be doing something." Lulu acted as though she hadn't heard, though Paine was sure the black mage knew she was being teased. A few seconds and a flick of the wrist later, Lulu conjured a water spell out of nowhere, drenching Wakka from head to foot.

Tidus started laughing at him, which caused the soaking wet Wakka to say, in a half-heartedly annoyed voice, "It's not funny, bro. I could do the same to you, ya?"

"I'd like to see you try," Tidus challenged him with a smirk. "I doubt you know any black magic at all."

"Nope, but I got a different method." Wakka promptly picked up the full pitcher of ice water from the center of the table, and emptied the contents onto Tidus' head.

Tidus yelped in shock, and a full scale water fight ensued. The only ones that didn't get dragged into the fray were Nooj, Auron, and Paine.

Lulu eventually regained the peace and said "Now that you've all succeeded in completely drenching one another, would you please stop acting like children and making a mess of my kitchen?" But even as she scolded them, Lulu herself seemed to be enjoying watching their spectacle.

When they eventually calmed down and quiet (though not dryness) had descended once again, Paine suddenly realized that there was one person who should be at the table with them but wasn't.

"Where's Baralai?" she asked curiously.

"He's around somewhere," Gippal said. "I saw him this morning walking around up by the temple talking to some girl."

"Wonder if that's the same girl he was with last night?" Paine wondered. "I saw him with this girl who looked like she was Al Bhed, but the strange thing was she had black hair."

"Black hair isn't genetically possible with the Al Bhed," Gippal confirmed. "She was either half Al Bhed," here he nodded towards Yuna, "Or she's dyed her hair for some reason. But the girl you're talking about and the girl I saw this morning aren't the same person. The girl he was walking around with this morning is a white mage, probably from Bevelle. She's got the robes and all. But she did have her hood up, so for all we know she might have black hair too. The defining feature is the eyes." Here Gippal tapped his eye patch for emphasis. "Half Al Bhed will always have two different colored eyes, and full blood Al Bhed will always have the spiral pupils. You can dye your hair, but you can't disguise your eyes."

The curiosity got to Rikku first. She got up and left, saying that she wanted to see exactly who this girl was that Baralai was with. Approximately five minutes later she returned, looking as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Gippal!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Ed'c Lydia! (It's Lydia!)"

Gippal looked shocked. "Lydia?" he asked. "You sure? How?"

"Lusa uh yht caa vun ouincamv! Ed'c ran! E's landyeh! (Come on and see for yourself! It's her! I'm certain!)" Rikku exclaimed, so excited that she was half-shouting in Al Bhed.

Gippal got up and followed Rikku out. After a moment, Paine got up and followed him, closely pursued by Yuna and Tidus. Seeing that they were being left behind, Auron and Nooj followed as well.

Their group strolled up to Baralai and the mysterious girl dressed in the robes of a white mage, stopping just out of sight around the corner. Baralai and the girl (_Lydia?_) were sitting on the stone steps of the Besaid Temple, Baralai listening intently while the young woman spoke.

Paine tuned in to hear the middle of a sentence. "For seven years I've had a price on my head," the "white mage" was saying. "My own Sudran (Mother) is after my blood."

Gippal turned to Rikku with a shocked look on his face, clearly having heard enough to establish the girl's identity. "It is Lydia," he said hoarsely. "I thought for sure she was dead. It's been seven years." Gippal and Rikku shared a look and nodded to each other, stepping out of their hiding place in front of the two.

When they looked up, the young woman keeping her gaze downcast, Rikku broke the silence first. "Liddy?" she asked tentatively. "Is it really you?"


	6. Lydia

Lydia slowly stood up and brushed off her robes, before looking around as if to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped on. She finally looked up at them, and Paine could see that beneath the hood her black hair was pulled into a bun, and she had the telltale green eyes with spiral pupils. _Come to think of it, she looks a bit like Gippal. I wonder if they're related?_

"Can we go somewhere where I won't be recognized?" she hissed through her teeth, looking around the square nervously. "Or overheard?"

"The Celsius?" Yuna asked, and Lydia cocked her head in confusion.

"I don't think so," Gippal said quickly. "No offense to you, Rikku-" he looked at her. "But I don't trust Brother to keep his mouth shut." Rikku nodded in understanding and assured him that she didn't either, and a few seconds passed in silence before Baralai spoke up. 

"My airship?" he suggested. "We could get... privacy there."

"Perfect," Lydia said. "Let's _go_." The last bit was said rather forcefully, and prompted Paine to wonder why the girl (who didn't look too much older than herself) was so paranoid.

Not a word was said amongst the group until they'd walked all the way out to the beach and boarded Baralai's impressive airship, the _Ragnarok_. Baralai promptly snapped out orders not to be disturbed, and led them to his private suite, where the doors were promptly closed and locked, and a silence spell (courtesy of Yuna, who had long since mastered the black mage dressphere) was cast around the room to prevent any eavesdroppers from hearing what was going on inside.

"Can they... can you all...?" Lydia was looking uncomfortable, but Gippal quickly picked up on the cause of her distress.

"They're fine, Liddy," he said reassuringly. Turning to the rest of them, he said "What goes on in this room stays in this room, got it?" Everyone nodded, most of them watching Lydia rather curiously.

"Alright then," Lydia said eventually turning to face them all. "You're all probably wondering why I'm acting so strange. I take it you've already realized I'm not a Yevonite." She pulled back the hood of her robe completely as well as taking out the hairpiece that held her hair in a snug topknot. When her spiraled green eyes were revealed and her wavy black locks fell out almost to her waist, the few of them who hadn't already realized it let out little "Oh..."s of realization.

"Before I start on the details, I'll try to make a long story short. Basically my family is just completely radical anti-Yevon idiots, willing to kill for their cause." An odd shiver passed over her face. "I'm honestly surprised they didn't try to assassinate one of the Maesters. My family also happens to be the largest clan of Al Bhed and the most influential with the exception of Cid's." Here she acknowledged Rikku. "I happened to have been born the white sheep in a black family." Then Gippal suddenly interrupted her.

"The only reason I wasn't in danger of going down the same road was because my dad got away from the clan," Gippal said. "But he was let go with a lot more grace then poor Liddy."

"Hang on," Nooj said slowly. "Are you two related?"

"Cousins," Gippal said with a grin, leaning over from his seat and giving Lydia a one armed hug. "My dad and her... mother... were brother and sister."

"Gippal was the _nice_ brother I never had," Lydia added, smiling in reminiscence. "And Kiki was our best friend."

"Kiki?" Yuna asked in confusion.

"That's me!" Rikku said suddenly, jumping up and down with her hand in the air. "That was my nickname."

Now that Paine knew they were cousins, it was easy to see the resemblance. Like Yuna and Rikku, the shared traits between the cousins were subtle yet strong. Both were tall and slender, both had identical long noses and similar overall facial structure. Their identically long fingered hands seemed to make the same gestures, and Paine suspected that Lydia's hair would be close to Gippal's own shade of golden blonde when she rinsed the black hair dye out of it.

"Getting back to the unfortunately unpleasant family history," Lydia muttered eventually. "I was the decent person in a terrible family. Just because I thought we shouldn't _kill_ the Yevonites, because I wanted to learn all of Spira's history rather than just my own, basically because I _wasn't_ a murderous _git_, things got bad for me."

Here Lydia adopted a rather nasty glare. "My manipulative, cruel, pedlr (bi0tch) of a mother used to beat me black and blue whenever I piped up and tried to voice a moderate opinion about something. I'll never forget the day when I was eight years old, just after Braska's calm. I talked back to her and said that Braska _wasn't_ a deceiving Yevonite, that he'd done a _noble_ thing in sacrificing himself so we could be free of Sin, and that she should respect him like the High Summoner he was."

_"Stupid deceiving Yevonite," Kyra said as she bustled around the kitchen banging pots on the stove, earning approving nods from her 12 year old son Tristan, but a smoldering glare from her daughter Lydia, four years Tristan's junior. "When will they learn the Final Summong isn't going to stop anything? Sin is their fault anyway! If I could get my hands on one of that Summoner's guardians I'd spit in his face! All he did was make everyone like the Yevonites even more!"_

_Young Lydia had had enough. Even at the tender age of eight she knew the consequences of speaking out, but did so anyway. She promptly got up from her chair, placed her hands on her hips, glared at her mother and said "That's not true!" _

_All motion in the tiny kitchen stopped. "What did you just say to me, young lady?" Kyra hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously like a cat's._

_Lydia didn't flinch. "That's not true!" she repeated. "High Summoner Braska isn't a deceiving yevonite! He was noble! He died so we could have a calm! You forgot that Sin killed knyhtsudran (grandmother)! High Summoner Braska made it so she didn't die in vain! You should respect him, Sussy (Momma)! I do!"_

_For a long moment there was stone cold silence. Then, Kyra stalked forward and slapped her daughter hard across the face. "You yevon-loving brat!" she seethed. "How dare you!"_

_What followed was the worst beating the young girl had ever gotten. Tristan had conveniently slipped out of the kitchen, and Kyra hit and slapped her daughter until the girl had numerous bruises and a black eye._

_Kyra eventually threw her daughter into the dark walk-in closet of their home, shut the door and bolted the girl in._

_"You just stay there until you're going to stop being a traitor to your people!" she yelled. "You're not going to get away with being a yevon-lover in this house! And you're not getting any supper tonight either!"_

"That was the day I decided I hated my mother," she said. "For the next five years I was planning my escape. Things got so bad for me that by the time I left I feared for my life. If Gippal and Kiki hadn't helped me escape I honestly think I might have been on the Farplane by now."

Baralai cleared his throat and made a motion as if to comfort Lydia but thought better of it. For her own part, Paine was impressed at the older girl's bravery (for she'd calculated that Lydia must be 20 years old by now from her previous comment).

"When doomsday finally came and the last straw broke the shoopuf's back I'd just turned thirteen. You guys probably all know that thirteen is sort of the coming of age for Al Bhed kids. And my family, being as twisted and radical as they are, at that point in time still believed in the stupid old tradition of promising away their daughters to arranged early marriages."

"I was, quite to my disgust, betrothed to this pompous rich jerk who was apparently a widowed friend of my father's who'd done us a lot of 'favors'. Not to mention he was more than twice my age. I would've had step-kids who were only four or five years younger than I was. As soon as I got wind of it of course, Gippal and Rikku started helping me plan my escape in earnest. They were only little small fry," here Rikku and Gippal jokingly protested at their nickname, "ten and eleven years old at the time, but we were a clever little trio. We were all pooling our pocket money, and we had a secret place where we had my gil and some supplies stored. Rikku had even stolen us little wrist communicators in case there was an emergency and I needed to get out fast."

_"You can't be serious, Mother!" Lydia protested. Just two months after her 13th birthday, the barely-a-teenager had received a bombshell; she was being promised in marriage to 28 year old Kiros; a widower whose first wife had died two years prior from the epidemics that went around every several years. He was an acquaintance of the family she'd met several times and hadn't been impressed by, and he was apparently very wealthy and had helped her parents out of a few tight spots._

_"I'm barely thirteen!" she continued. "I haven't had my first moon cycle yet! I can't even have children! I can't get married! How can you do this to me?"_

_"The wedding's not going to be right away," Kyra explained, sounding just a little patronizing towards her daughter. "You're betrothed, but you won't get married until three months after your first moon cycle. Kiros is a good man. He's handsome and he has plenty of money. And he has proper values."_

_Lydia rolled her eyes; she knew "proper values" to mean radical anti-yevon values. "He can be as handsome and rich as he likes, I don't care!" she shouted. "He's a greedy arrogant pig head! He's twice my age! I can't have stepchildren who are only a little younger then I am!"_

_"You don't know that," her mother said, in a rather condescending way. "Besides, age is immaterial."_

_"Age doesn't matter when you're in love, Mother!" Lydia retorted. "I don't love Kiros! I don't even like him!" Lydia was so worked up that she temporarily forgot her English._

_"Oui damm ran (You tell her), Tristan!" she desperately appealed to her older brother, who'd previously been sitting silently at the table and carefully not getting involved. "Fuimt oui fyhd du vunla cusa kenm du synno oui? (Would you want to force some girl to marry you?)"_

_The handsome, blond haired, hazel eyed 17 year old carefully looked from his mother to his sister before tentatively opening his mouth. "Not if the girl in question was truly unhappy," he said. "But I cannot speak for-" he was suddenly interrupted by Kyra. _

_"Get out!" She shrieked at her now cowering son. "Get out of my kitchen! This is not your concern! Out! Now!"_

_"Yes Mother," he said quickly, and left, refusing to meet Lydia's eyes. She sighed internally. Tristan could be a model older brother at times, but unlike his sister he was a pacifist. He preferred to avoid conflict by any means possible, rather than face it (and, indeed, occasionally invite it) like she did. In short, he was a coward, especially when it came to their mother. He feared her and deferred to her every wish; Lydia could count on him to stand up for her when it had anything to do with anybody else. She hated him for it, for she knew he'd never have the guts to stand up for his own more moderate beliefs, but despite herself she still loved him like the older brother and role model that he was._

_"As for you," Kyra said, rounding on her daughter. "This marriage will be the best thing for everybody. I'll hear no more discussion about it, understood?"_

_"No!" the bold girl shouted. "I won't get married! Especially not to him! And you can't make me! I'm not getting married until I meet a man that I love! And if that man turns out to be a Yevonite then so be it!"  
_

_Kyra slapped her daughter across the face. "You will not speak to me that way, young lady!" she shouted, dragging the girl by her upper arm to her second floor bedroom and rudely pushing her inside. "You're getting married to Kiros and that's final!"_

"You actually said that to her?" Baralai asked, caught between amusement and amazement when Lydia gave the abridged version of the story.

"Yes, and I'm proud of it," she said with a sheepish grin. "I was so mad at her I was ready to pack my things, run off to Bevelle, and marry the Praetor of Yevon just to spite her!" Lydia chuckled when the reserved Baralai turned slightly red. Paine had to stop herself from smirking. _I doubt he's ever had a girl flirt with him before in his life_.

"But you forgot the better half of the tale," she said. "That night I was... rather displeased to discover that my 3 month clock was going to start ticking. I called up Gippal and Rikku and they came to my house around midnight. Of course my door was locked, but my mother must have been insulting my intelligence to think that I couldn't escape the house any other way. I packed a backpack of stuff, climbed out my window, and shimmied down the vines on the side of the house. Then we went to our secret place and collected the rest of my supplies, and then we went to the docks." Here her eyes became vaguely moist and she paused briefly.

"I stowed away on a ship that was heading to the mainland that morning. I knew I'd be safest in Bevelle because that was the last place they'd look and the one place they'd be reluctant to set foot in. So I went, disguised myself, and I've been living in the Temple ever since."

"Going a bit off-topic," Gippal piped up. "How long have you two," he gestured to her and Baralai, "known each other?"

"I've _known_ him since we were sixteen, but we didn't really get to be friends until about 2 years ago," Lydia said. "And this morning I finally confessed about the family tree." She glanced at Baralai, who gave her a small smile in return.

"I think you two," she nodded to Gippal and Rikku. "Can explain the rest of it better than I can." As Gippal took up the narration, Paine was mildly surprised to see that Lydia, now looking emotionally drained, had let out a deep sigh and leaned her head back against Baralai's chest. She was even more surprised to see that Baralai didn't protest, but shifted so that she was comfortable and had begun idly twirling a lock of her hair around one finger, with his other arm around her shoulders. The scene insinuated something more than simple friendship from Paine's perspective, but nobody else seemed to have noticed.

"Basically Liddy's departure caused a bit of a stir amongst all the Al Bhed, not even just the family," Gippal said. "While her family and her, um, ex-potential in laws were out searching for her, everyone else was being forced to take sides. Which is probably why poor Lydia's never been able to walk around looking like herself."

"That's right," Lydia muttered, eyes now wearily closed in a contradiction of her earlier energy. "I'm so famous I have to worry that every member of my own race and several who aren't will turn me in. Not to mention I've got a hefty price on my head and a bounty hunter or two out for me, but thankfully Sudran wants me alive."

"You sound... calm about it," Tidus said slowly, as if not being able to comprehend Lydia's nonchalance on such a seemingly serious subject.

"I'm calm about most things in that area," Lydia replied. "When you've lived like I have for seven years you get used to it."

"You know what this means?" Rikku asked after a moment, jumping up from her seat with a gleam in her eye.

"No, I don't," Auron said wryly, and she stuck her tongue out at him before continuing.

"We can't let Liddy go on like this forever!" Rikku said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We have to help! You three-" she gestured to Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai, "You guys can help! People listen to you! And if Yunie threw in 'High Summoner' then they'd have to back off!"

"I agree," Yuna said. "Normally I wouldn't want to... take advantage of my position, but in this case I'd be perfectly willing to help."

"I wasn't going to ask you," Lydia said. "Because I don't know how much good it will do. You might as well shout to the world where I'm hiding."

"We wouldn't do that," Nooj said. "We'd just... persuade them to pardon you."

"It's called aggressive negotiations," Gippal added with a laugh.

"Aggressive negotiations?" Tidus asked aloud, and Gippal smirked.

"Negotiations with my friends Mr. Grenade and Mr. Rifle," Gippal clarified, and Tidus cracked up with laughter, as did Yuna and Gippal himself. Paine found a smile creeping its way on to her face but didn't let down her stern inner walls.

"To be a free woman would make my day," Lydia said slowly. "But that's not all that I need."

"What do you mean?" Baralai and Gippal asked almost simultaneously.

"Trey," Lydia said in a half whisper, looking apprehensive. "What happened to him?"

"Trey? Oh, you mean Tristan," said Gippal. "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really know. I haven't seen him since I was fifteen."

"Oh," Lydia muttered softly. "It's just... I wondered."

"I know what happened to him. At least, sort of," Rikku said tentatively, and all eyes were suddenly on her.

"I've seen him a little more recently than Gippal has, but even I don't know where he is," she said. "A couple of months before Home was destroyed two years ago, Tristan just... disappeared."

"What'd you mean, disappeared?" Lydia asked curiously.

"Exactly what I said. Gone. Poof. I think he finally grew a backbone. He's probably been out looking for you."

"And nobody's heard from him in two years?"

"Nope. But we can find him while we're out getting you free. Nothing's too hard for the Gullwings!"

"Gullwings," Lydia said slowly, a grin growing on her face. "I like it. And if we can find Trey then so much the better."

"Alright!" Rikku said joyfully, slapping Lydia a high five. "Operation find Tristan and beat up his mom is in action!"

"That's not very nice," Gippal said with a grin. "Besides, my dad never would have wanted us to beat his sister to a pulp, even if she did deserve it."

"This sort of an operation could take several weeks," Nooj said slowly. "I think myself and Baralai would have to return to our Headquarters for a short while and inform our... senior officers what was going on, so they know where we are this time. I still haven't been back to Mushroom Rock yet." Nooj's hidden purpose and unsaid words hung in the air but only Paine could understand.

"I agree," Baralai said. "Issaru will be able to keep them calm as long as it's a _planned_ sabbatical."

"I suppose that settles it then," Auron said in his deep authoritative voice, and they all shared nods of agreement, Baralai getting up to go to the bridge and give instructions to the captain.

* * *

As their group of nine strode up between the rows of familiar tents and battlements towards the giant 2 story pavillion hung with the Youth League banners, Paine edged up to the front of the group to speak with a quietly ruminating Nooj. 

"Nervous?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth.

"Maybe," Nooj replied quietly. "I know what nervousness feels like and this is different. You know I don't go philosophical and interpretive when it comes to... matters like that. Women are much more Gippal's department."

"You underestimate yourself," Paine told him. "I think you and Lucil would be good together."

Nooj looked down and let out a "hmmph", but not before Paine could see his face flushing.

Nooj's head shot up a moment later at the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, and Paine looked up to see the very topic of their discussion quite unprofessionally running out to greet them.

"Mevyn Nooj!" Lucil called out, sounding happy. She abruptly stopped when she reached them and seemed to suddenly remember her military training, giving the customary Youth League salute.

"It is truly good to see you all again," she said. "Spira hasn't been the same without its leaders. And-" here she turned to Nooj, "It hasn't been easy leading the Youth League in your absence, Sir. I've gained a whole new appreciation for how stressful your job is."

"You look as though you've done a wonderful job," Nooj told her with a sincere smile. "And how many times must I ask you not to address me formally? It makes me sound old." This line brought forth some amusement from the rest of the group.

"Are you back to stay for a while?" Lucil asked.

"Unfortunately no," Nooj replied, and Paine watched Lucil's face fall slightly. "We're going on a mission that may take a few weeks. I wanted to tell you so you wouldn't worry over where I was." Lucil nodded in understanding and the two walked off to one side and spent several minutes pacing back and forth out of earshot, talking in low tones. They returned to the group and Lucil bade them goodbye and promised to keep the Youth League running until they returned. Paine, watching carefully, saw Lucil press some object into Nooj's hand and close his fist over it, then tell him audibly to be careful.

"What's that?" she asked, having once again sidled up to Nooj, now at the back of the group.

Nooj opened his fist to reveal a plain gold ring with flowing scripture carved into it, hanging from a silver chain. "It's Lucil's," Nooj said. "She said she always used to wear it whenever she went into battle or on a mission."

"And she wanted you to take it with you?" Nooj nodded.

"Sounds like score one for you," Paine muttered encouragingly. "Being worried about your welfare is one thing, but giving you a personal token is something that those lovesick Princesses do in storybooks."

"Perhaps," was Nooj's only reply.

_

* * *

__I am so screwed up_, Paine thought to herself. _I can't even figure out what on Spira is wrong with me_. She'd come up to the deck of the Ragnarok to find a silent haven where she could be alone and think. She'd found her seclusion but it hadn't helped. Now she was sitting on the edge of the deck with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped protectively around them, immersed in her thoughts as she looked out over the crystal blue ocean speeding by beneath her, not moving except for the occasional bringing up of an arm to wipe unshed tears from her eyes. 

_I wish there was somebody I could talk to about Gippal_, she thought. _Somebody who could understand, and wouldn't laugh or spread the secret_. Though she'd never admit it to anybody, Paine knew full well she couldn't go through life alone. She put on the façade of the invincible warrior princess to disguise her vulnerable inner self.

Just then her peaceful haven was shattered by the sound of the door sliding open. A pair of boots hesitantly stepped out to stop a yard away from her, and the intruder cleared his throat nervously. Paine sighed deeply and didn't turn around, for she didn't need to. She could tell it was Gippal.

"What?" she asked after several moments, making an effort to sound at least civil if not kind. She was just as annoyed at herself as she was at him, after all.

"You okay?"

"As good as can be expected, given the circumstances." Why couldn't she pierce this air of cool formality?

"Are you... angry at me? Did I do something wrong?" Gippal sounded like a lost and hurt little puppy dog, and it broke Paine's heart.

"Not really," she replied honestly. "I'm just as much to blame for all the stuff I'm annoyed at you for."

Gippal sighed and seemed to hesitate before the next words slipped out of his mouth.

"Did we... sleep together?"

_Damn_. He'd hit the nail right on the head, with the most direct hammer possible.

"Yes," she said bluntly, viciously pushing away the inner voice that was saying _'you don't regret it, you actually liked it...'_. "But that doesn't fix everything. We were both drunk."

"I know," was Gippal's simple reply. "But it... I... wanted to know." After a moment he coughed and became a little more business-like. Paine still didn't turn around, but her ears and sixth sense were wide open.

"Me, Nooj, Baralai, and Yuna won't be back for a while," he said. "Yuna's bringing along her boyfriend, too. Are you and Rikku and Sir Auron going to be okay on Besaid with Lydia?"

"I don't see why not. I'm sure I'll survive."

Gippal chuckled appreciatively. "I've been thinking," he began, and Paine was sorely tempted to insert a sarcastic comment but desisted. "About everything. Nooj, us, Vegnagun. It kinda makes my head hurt. I don't know about you, but I think I need a hell of a lot of quiet time to get myself sorted out."

A grin tugged at the corners of Paine's lips but she banished it. "Me too," she confessed.

"So... not now, but after we get back, can we... talk?"

"Sure," she said, and meant it. Time to get her feelings sorted out was all she really needed. "Crusader's honor."

Gippal chuckled and muttered something about how she wasn't a crusader but then quieted and turned serious once again.

After a few more brief moments of small talk, Gippal bade her a soft goodbye. Then he said two words he hadn't said in two years, and by the time Paine had turned around wondering if she'd really heard it he was gone.

"Love you."


	7. Bittersweet News

The first thing Paine did when she woke up, after opening her tent flap to let in the Besaid morning sunlight and making her bed, was to see if procrastinating for another day had brought her a miracle. And it hadn't.

_I can't deny it any longer_, she thought miserably. _It's already 10 days late. Something is wrong. I just hope it isn't what I think it might be, or I'm going to have a whole lot of explaining to do.  
_

Paine decided that today was the day she'd have to accept the possibility of a life-altering event. Now she just had to confirm it.

_Who can I go to?_ she wondered as she made herself a cup of cocoa. _I don't want to go to a stranger, Rikku couldn't do it, Lydia may be a white mage but I don't know her that well and besides, she's Gippal's cousin of all people._ Paine thought on it for a while before she came up with a solution- Lulu. Lulu was an older and more mature woman, she would keep Paine's secret, Paine knew her well enough to be okay with the idea, and as she was a skilled mage she was certainly capable of doing what Paine needed. She was the perfect woman for the job.

* * *

"This is a pleasant surprise," Lulu said, after having settled down with Paine at her kitchen table, surveying her with crimson eyes. "I don't usually see you in here so early in the morning to chat." 

Paine frowned and decided she might as well get to the point, even if the point was rather personal. "I'd love to talk," she said, taking her eyes off her plate of toast and looking up at Lulu. "But I need a favor."

Lulu seemed to be able to perceive the seriousness of the matter. "If it's anything I can do I'd be happy to," she said encouragingly.

Paine took a deep breath. _It's now or never_. "I think I might be pregnant," she said finally, staring down at the table.

Shockingly, Lulu didn't look at all fazed. "I assume you wouldn't be here if there was no possibility," she said calmly. "How long ago would the conception have been?"

_How can she be so calm? I guess it's because she's already had a kid_. "A little over two weeks ago," she admitted, still too embarrassed to look the older woman in the eye.

"And your… monthly visit hasn't come?"

"Nope," Paine said with a sigh. "It's about ten days late."

"Hm… you're not far along enough yet to have gained any noticeable weight or have morning sickness, so it comes down to the fact that you're late," Lulu said thoughtfully. "I could test you, if you like," she said. "It's very simple, similar to scan magic."

"That's exactly what I need," Paine said, only just now recovering from her intense feeling of wanting to sink into the floor from embarrassment, and thankful for Lulu's calm advice.

"Wait here," said Lulu. "I'll have to dig out my white mage rod. I don't know very much white magic, but the pregnancy test is one that I know very well." She disappeared and came back a few minutes later, with a crystal-topped white rod in one hand.

"Get up and stand over there," Lulu directed, motioning Paine towards the open central area of the room. "This will feel like a little buzzing itch for a few moments. Stand still and close your eyes."

Paine did as she was instructed, and soon heard the telltale hum of the magic. She indeed felt a strange sensation that made her skin crawl for about ten seconds before it stopped. She cautiously opened her eyes and found Lulu reading the little translucent popup, before ending the magic with a click of her fingers.

"I'm not sure if this is unfortunate or not… but you are indeed with child," Lu said gently, once they were again settled at her kitchen table.

A sinking feeling made itself at home in the pit of Paine's stomach. _Children. I'm pregnant. With Gippal's child._ She sat in numb shock for what must have been a full five minutes before Lulu brought her out of her reverie.

"Care to tell me who the father is?" Lulu asked gently. "I'll keep all this confidential, certainly."

Paine hesitated, but then decided she wanted to confide in someone. "I'm not sure you'd recognize him," she said slowly. "Does the name Gippal mean anything to you? Al Bhed? Eye patch?"

"Leader of the Machine Faction?" Lulu finished. "Yes, I remember him. I wasn't aware you two had a relationship."

"We don't," Paine said shortly. "At least, not at this point in time. It's complicated."

"I see," Lulu murmured. "Is there anything else you need? I'd be happy to help."

"I'm thankful for it," Paine said sincerely, "But unless you're a miracle worker there's not a lot you can do."

"Well…" Lulu said slowly, pursing her lips. "You could…"

"What?"

"Are you sure you want to… keep it?"

That took a moment to process, but then Paine blurted out "of course" before even stopping to think why she was so sure. Did she want to keep the pregnancy? Yes, she'd never even considered an abortion to be an option. But why was she so sure? She had a well disguised soft spot for children, she knew that. And somewhere deep down, Paine's motherly instincts were kicking in. Halting such a precious experience before it even began was unthinkable. Despite the fact that she might face humiliation and a loss of face, Paine subconsciously wanted this child. And if Gippal abandoned her then he could go to Hell. But a part of her was certain he would make a great father; certain that he too would want to raise their child.

"Yes," she added, after several moments. "I'm sure."

Lulu smiled. "Somehow I knew you'd say that," she said. "Vidina will look forward to having a new playmate."

* * *

For the rest of that day, Paine wandered around with a troubled expression and hollow eyes, refusing to speak to anybody as she slowly came to terms with the news of her imminent arrival. She knew that Rikku and Auron and even Lydia were concerned about her behavior and she felt slightly guilty, but still kept to herself. 

As sunset approached, Paine left the village for the sanctuary of her "secret place"- the small clearing overlooking the beach that only the Gullwings knew of. She settled down on the grass, pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them as she gazed out at the red horizon. But almost as soon as she settled down her silence was broken by footsteps. There was no mistaking that heavy authoritative stride—it was Auron.

She turned when she felt his hand on her left shoulder and looked up into her father's brown eyes, which were currently full of concern. "Hi," she said softly, looking back down and scooting sideways so as to give him space to sit next to her. He did so, and there was a heavy silence between them for a moment before he spoke.

"You weren't like this when you were young," he said. "I was always able to know exactly what was bothering you. Now I'm completely mystified. Perhaps it's me that's changed."

Not able to think of a response to this, Paine shrugged. "Look at me," Auron said, in a gentle-but-firm tone of voice. Paine slowly obeyed. Completely aside from the fact that she loved and respected him, Auron had a commanding air and a piercing gaze that was hard to go against.

"Tell me what's going on," he said gently. Paine bit her lip to keep back tears and shook her head, looking down at the grass again.

"Why not?" he asked patiently.

"You'd be ashamed of me," Paine muttered to her knees. "And I don't want you to get mad at him when it was my fault, too."

"Get mad at who?" Auron asked, perplexed.

"Gippal." She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Why in Spira would I be angry at him?" Then Auron's eyes narrowed. "Did he hurt you?"

"No!" she said hastily, and Auron calmed down almost immediately.

"Well?"

Paine sighed. The moment had come. It wasn't as if she'd be able to keep it a secret for long anyway.

"We… I'm going to have a baby," she said finally, and flinched for the bad reaction she was sure would follow. But to her grateful surprise, Auron did exactly the opposite. After a moment's silence he reached over, pulled her into his arms, and embraced her tightly. And at that moment, Paine crumbled under the emotional stress and began to cry like she hadn't in years. 12 years, in fact; these weren't tears like the quickly stifled grief she'd indulged in after she'd been separated from Gippal two years ago. These were tears like she'd had the night she'd heard from Kimahri that Auron was supposedly dead. She and Yuna had both cried that evening, but Yuna's grief had been tempered—she'd known what Braska had set out to do. But for the younger Paine, the sadness had been much worse.

After a while, Paine slowly composed herself and sat up. "Don't tell Rikku," she said. "I don't want anybody else to know until I've told Gippal."

Auron nodded. "You have my word," he said. "Could I persuade you to return with me and go to bed now? You need it."

Paine slowly nodded, and let herself be steered away back towards the village, now taking comfort in Auron's company. Confiding in her father had brought Paine a sense of peace, and she was sure now that she could deal with Gippal when he returned.


	8. love, marriage, THEN the baby carriage?

Paine was nervous. Very nervous. As she stood on the Besaid beach with Rikku, Auron, and Lydia, one hand on her sword hilt as if to reassure herself, and the other hovering on the very beginnings of a bump that was her lower abdomen, she wondered if she'd ever anticipated and dreaded an event more in her life before. 

But at least she wasn't alone. Lydia, standing next to her, was also casting worried looks at the horizon and fidgeting nervously. They were both waiting for one man in particular (but Lydia, Paine supposed, was also waiting for the object of her affection, which was presently taking the back seat to her long lost brother), and both were deliberately wearing clothes other than what they normally dressed in. In Paine's case, she knew she wouldn't be able to wear her snug-fitting leather for too much longer, and had traded it for a loose-fitting black shirt with silver collar and cuffs, and matching shorts. Lydia (who had her now blonde hair in a long ponytail) was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress that stopped just short of her knees, and left much more to the imagination then young Al Bhed women usually did. Paine had overheard her telling Rikku this was so not to make Baralai too flustered, as his polite nature and religious instruction would no doubt come into conflict with his hormonal desires and the simple fact that he was, for all his maturity, still a young man barely out of his teenage years.

Then Baralai's airship appeared over the ocean horizon, and Paine's heart started racing. The cause of a month's deep thought and troubled sleep was finally there. As the ramp lowered and a group of people came towards them, waving and calling out greetings, Paine immediately spotted Gippal and her breath caught in her throat. Forcing herself to calm down, Paine also sighted Yuna and Tidus (with their arms around each other), and Baralai, striding along calmly on Gippal's left side. Nooj was, for some reason, absent. And on Gippal's other side was a very tall (he stood almost a head above Gippal at about 6'6"), fair-haired stranger, whom Paine assumed was Tristan.

As they approached, Paine got her first good look at Lydia's brother. Tristan was very much tow-headed, his short blond hair being several shades lighter than his sister's and combed back neatly from his forhead. He had a long and lanky frame, with long arms and legs, long-fingered hands and large feet, judging by the size of his black boots. He was clean-shaven and his face was free from any blemishes or disfigurments save for two things—his nose was a bit crooked, as though it had been broken once, and he had a long thin scar that started above his right eyebrow and stretched diagonally down across his nose to his left cheekbone, making it look very much like somebody had once slashed him across the face with a knife. His hazel eyes (with spiral pupils) were cheerful, though behind that good humor Paine could detect a deep, long lasting sadness. Overall, the 24 year old was a very handsome man.

But Paine didn't have much time to study Tristan, for now the two groups had reached each other. It was time for Paine to try and put both her own heart and Gippal's at ease, and do the one thing that she longed to but was frightened of. Sparing greetings for her friends and filing away the fact that Nooj wasn't there as a "note to self to wonder about later", Paine walked up to Gippal. Before he could start a conversation, Paine took a deep breath and—apprehensively—wrapped her arms around him in a hesitant but unmistakable hug.

Gippal seemed somewhat taken aback for a moment, and Paine was afraid that he would reject her attempt to bridge the gap between them. But then his face lit up, and when he firmly returned the embrace and whispered "this is a pleasant surprise," into her ear, Paine's arms relaxed and she really hugged him, remembering how content and happy she'd felt when he'd held her in his arms during the many nights following hard days of training for the Crimson Squad.

_I've been so stupid_, Paine thought. _Why did I ever let go of this? What did I do to deserve his forgiveness?_ A glance up at Gippal's face told Paine he was thinking along similar lines. She knew she'd have to break the news of her pregnancy eventually, but she didn't want to spoil the moment. Not to mention she'd rather speak to him about that in private. Instead, she detached herself from him and cast about for something matter-of-fact to say.

"Where's Nooj?" she asked finally, and Gippal chuckled.

"It's funny you asked," he replied, looking away from the sight of Lydia, who had just finished speaking to her older brother and was now hugging him fiercely. "Nooj told us all to give you his most sincere apologies for not being here, he said he really had to get back to the Youth League. Something about urgent business." Gippal snorted. "More like he wanted to get back to his girlfriend as soon as possible."

"He told you about Lucil?" Paine asked curiously.

"No," came the reply. "I put two and two together. The look on his face when he saw that woman?" Gippal laughed. "Lucil's got Nooj hook, line and sinker and I don't think she knows it yet. And I thinks she likes him too." Paine nodded in agreement. "We should go over there later," Gippal continued. "If we pay them a surprise visit we might be able to catch exactly what's going on."

"Right," said Paine, listening with half an ear as she came to a conclusion in her mind. "Hey," she said suddenly. "Can you meet me tonight…" she described the location of her favorite secret place. "We really need to talk, and I'd rather not have seven sets of ears nearby," she finished.

"Sure," said Gippal, reaching for her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. As their group began to head back towards the village, chattering all the while, Paine and Gippal walked side by side, a new ease between them.

Some time later, as they'd setted down within the shade of the Temple's steps, Tristan became the center of attention of the conversation. It seemed he'd been waiting to tell his stories until they'd returned to Besaid, and everybody was curious to hear what he knew and where he'd been. Paine had to admit that she too was interested, and listened keenly as he spoke.

"As Lydia will have you know, I hung around for a few more years after she left. But after she left my eyes had been opened. I could really see the disgusting things my relatives were getting up to for the first time. And I definitely wasn't my mother's advocate any more." Tristan's voice had a hard edge to it, a definite note of self-disgust.

"But then of course I wasn't popular, or safe any more either. I got dragged into a number of fights in my late teens and early twenties, and at one point or another I had my nose broken, both shoulders dislocated, sprained one ankle, broke a couple of ribs…" he grimaced. "You name the injury, I got it. And when I finally left, somehow they knew about it and attacked me." His slight emphasis on the word "they" made Paine wonder who he was talking about.

Lydia seemed to wonder too, for the next words out of her mouth were "which 'they'?"

Tristan sighed. "Kiros and his crowd. He was still pissed about having a beautiful young bride and rich dowry being stolen from under his nose, and he remained convinced for the next five years that I'd been in on it. I was only out to defend myself, but…" he shuddered and looked slightly nauseous. "They all died that night. But before Kiros fell he gave me this…" Tristan traced the scar on his face with a finger.

"Why didn't you come see me?" Gippal asked. "You can't tell me that for the last six months you haven't heard my name at least once."

Tristan's reply was immediate. "For the same reason Lydia didn't. Could I really waltz into Mushroom Rock Temple and tell them I was there to see my cousin?" Gippal was silent.

"I knew where you were. I knew where Rikku was. I even knew where Cid was. But I didn't dare let you know I was alive and well. It wasn't until I got wind of the fact that you'd gotten Lydia off the hook and that you must have met up with her that I joined you. And I before you ask how I knew so much, I had a number of rather… shady contacts. I didn't like having to associate with them, but the inside information is what's kept me alive for the past two years." They all nodded in understanding, and Paine felt a surge of pity for Tristan, like she'd felt when his sister had told her story.

"You okay, Trey?" Rikku asked tentatively, and Tristan looked at her questioningly. "You look exhausted," Rikku added. Paine looked closer and realized that Tristan did indeed look rather worn out.

Tristan grinned, but only slightly. "To tell you the truth," he said. "I didn't sleep well last night. And I'm starving."

For some reason, this seemed to amuse Lydia. "You were always starving," she said, giggling. "I guess your habit of eating enough for a whole squad of crusaders hasn't changed." Tristan shook his head in exasperation.

"For that matter, I'm hungry too," said Tidus, and soon Rikku, Yuna, and Lydia were all giggling.

"Well if you're all hungry, let's take a break and eat," Yuna said eventually. "I'm sure there's enough for all of you." With the decision made, they left off the conversation and headed in the general direction of Lulu and Wakka's house.

Much later that evening, as twilight was falling and the stars were beginning to appear on the sky, Paine could be found making her way to her favorite clearing overlooking the beach. She sat down on a flat topped rock and looked out at the sparkling sea while her mind wandered.

Paine had never been good with emotions. If she had to choose between having another round with Vegnagun and telling Gippal she was going to have his child, Paine thought she'd be sorely tempted to go for the physical fight rather than this uncertain emotional paradox.

Just then, a sound pierced her fears of impending doom. It was a pleasant trill, almost like birdsong. But no bird would be singing the hymn of the fayth. Paine finally realized it was the sound of whistling. And then Gippal walked into view, hands in his pockets, whistling contentedly.

"I didn't know you could whistle like that," Paine said honestly, impressed.

Gippal came to a halt and grinned. "Practice," he said. "The hymn is about the only tune I know. You should be lucky I don't try to sing. I'd crack Nooj's glasses." Paine laughed briefly, then wondered at herself. She almost never laughed. But then again, Gippal was one of the few lucky people who could make her so light-hearted.

But once Gippal's moment of comic relief passed, the gravity of the situation came rushing back to her. Gippal noticed her expression and frowned, before sitting down on the rock beside her.

"What's going on?" he asked gently.

"Remember what happened the night after the party here last month?" This was a rehearsed speech-kind of.

"Um… you mean where we both got drunk and-"

"Yes. That," Paine interrupted him. She could see Gippal watching her curiously, clearly wondering why she was bringing up this subject again. She sighed, wondering how best to phrase it.

"You might be shocked, so don't say I didn't warn you." Gippal was still looking at her. Paine looked down. She was too afraid of what she might find there to look at his face now.

"I'm pregnant. And it's yours."

The next thing she heard was a soft _thump_. She looked up to find that Gippal had fainted from shock.

_I told him he'd be surprised_, Paine thought. If the situation had been less serious, she might have laughed at him. After several hard taps on the forehead, Gippal came around.

"Did you just… are we really having a baby?" Gippal asked. He didn't sound mad, so Paine began to hope.

"Wow," he muttered, after Paine nodded. "Unexpected, but cool. I'm going to be a dad…" he trailed off, eyes alight, and Paine felt a heavy burden lift itself off her. Gippal was accepting it, accepting her… she smiled in relief.

"You know what this means?" Gippal asked eventually. Paine could have thought up any one of a number of sarcastic replies, but settled for shaking her head with an eyebrow raised. She hadn't felt this… _free_ in a long time.

"It means… well, before I say that… are we, er… do we…?"

Paine finished his sentence. "Do we have a relationship again?"

Gippal nodded, then gave her a hopeful look. Paine sighed and grinned slightly; one could never resist Gippal when he got that puppy dog look on his face.

"I haven't wanted anything otherwise for two years," she said honestly. She looked up and saw that Gippal was taking a moment to process what she'd just said. Then abruptly his face split in a grin. He jumped up, dragged Paine to her feet, and swung her around in a circle before she could even open her mouth to protest that he let her down.

Just as abruptly he put her down and suddenly looked concerned. Paine figured out what he must be thinking and assured him that even though she was pregnant she wasn't made of glass. Then she prodded him to tell her what he was going to say "this means" a moment before.

"Well," he said, still grinning infectiously, his right hand straying to the back of his neck in a habit he'd had for as long as Paine could remember. "I was thinking… you know, with the baby and all, we'd kind of be a family, and…" his face flushed and he looked at the ground.

"Spit it out," said Paine, grinning despite herself.

"This really isn't the situation I thought I'd find myself asking this in," Gippal muttered to himself. "And I haven't got a… anything to give you on such short notice, but…" he looked up at her then and suddenly seemed serious, genuine.

"I know this is sudden, but I'm dead serious," he said. He inhaled deeply and took her hand. "Will you marry me?"

_What the… what did he just say?_ "You want… me?" she asked weakly.

"Yes," was the simple and sincere reply. "First of all," here he allowed himself a grin. "We'd avoid having Baralai scold us for the rest of our lives." Paine couldn't help but chuckle.

"Second of all," he said, "It's my responsibility. I'm not walking out on you and the baby." Paine nodded, impressed by the rare display of maturity.

"And third of all?" she asked, sensing that he wasn't finished.

Gippal smiled. "Third of all," he said, drawing her closer to him, "is most important. I've loved you since I was sixteen years old. If it wasn't for the fact that we weren't allowed yet because we weren't seventeen, I'd probably have asked you to marry me two years ago. I was actually thinking about it when we got seperated."

"Really?" Paine asked, mildly surprised.

"Yes, really," Gippal said. "So," he added eventually. "What do you say? Wanna be Mistress of the Machine Faction?" The thought made Paine laugh again.

"I think," she said slowly. "You've got yourself a deal." Then she added, in a softer and more serious tone, "I'd be honoured."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes, really," she said, eliciting a laugh from him.

"Well then," he said, grinning slyly. "This deserves a celebration." Before Paine could ask any further, Gippal had kissed her, and anything she was about to say died. The last time they'd kissed, the last time she'd ever kissed anybody, had been in much less joyful circumstances. But now, after two years… she couldn't find words to describe it. Others might have cried at this point, but not Paine. She felt the emotion of the moment, but was definitely not one to shed tears. Most of the time, anyway.

"We're going to have to tell everybody," she said, when they finally separated.

"I know," said Gippal. "I can just imagine the looks on their faces, too." For her part, Paine amused herself imagining just how surprised her friends would be, not having known that she and Gippal had even had that sort of a past.

"Well then," he said. "May I beg you to tell anybody until next week? I've got to spend a few days back at Mushroom Rock, not to mention it'll take me at least that long to find an engagement ring worthy of the most beautiful woman in Spira."

Paine rolled her eyes. "You're flirting with me," she stated. Gippal laughed and admitted it. As they strolled back down the jungle path, Paine could do nothing else but count her lucky stars. Things had turned out better than she could have possibly believed. She finally had Gippal back.


	9. Good News and Bad News

_Tap-tap_. It was the sound of somebody knocking to come in. Paine rolled her eyes skyward, temporarily taking her attention from the task of polishing her sword hilt. Rikku had already barged into her tent three times this morning for no reason other than what seemed to Paine to annoy her. She wasn't really angry at Rikku, but one could only put up with the bundle of energy for so long at a time.

"What now?" She called out, taking no trouble to disguise the annoyance in her voice.

Whoever it was came in, and Paine saw it was Auron, with a mildly amused expression on his face. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" he asked, then his eyes swept over Paine's prized possession, her katana, lying on the bed with a whetstone next to it, the open container of polish on the bedside table, and Paine herself with rag in hand.

"Cleaning your sword," he observed, approval evident in his voice. "I must confess I haven't treated my own in quite a while." He shook his head and then seemed to remember what he'd come in for.

"You sounded rather put out," he said. "Why?"

"Because your girlfriend has already barged in here three times for no good reason," Paine replied.

"I see," Auron said, the barest hint of a smile appearing on his face. "Well, I happen to have a good reason for being here."

_And that is…?_ But Auron seemed to have read her expression. "Everybody's either here or on their way," he said. "They're asking for you."

_Fair enough_. Paine and Gippal had decided to gather all of their friends here in Besaid so they could make the announcement of their pregnancy and engagement. That included Baralai and Lydia coming from Bevelle (she'd spent the last week at the Temple with him), Nooj traveling from Mushroom Rock, and Gippal himself coming back from having spent the last 6 days in the Bikanel Desert coordinating the Machine Faction with Nhadala. And they were all due to arrive in the next hour.

"Not annoyed any longer, I take it?" he asked. Paine simply shot him a glare and he merely looked more amused. She did, however, quickly finish the job on her sword hilt, before placing it back in its scabbard and hanging it in its rightful place on her hip. She then got up and followed him out to the center of the village, where Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, Tristan, and Lydia were all relaxing and chatting amongst themselves.

And of course, Rikku was the first to speak after they'd sat down. "So…" she said. "What's the big secret? What have you and Gippal got planned?" Paine ignored her. Rikku, being her usual impatient self, had been asking the same question for the last 3 days. Instead she addressed Lydia.

"Where's Baralai?" she asked. "I thought you two were together."

"We were," she said. "But Baralai had to stay behind in Bevelle. Apparently the Senior Priests called some sort of meeting and he was required to go. I have a feeling I know what it's about, too." She looked rather annoyed, but her face soon resumed its normal expression. "Anyway, he'll be here in a little while ," she finished.

They kept on chatting, and Paine listened, occasionally commenting when a question came her way. Ten or so more minutes passed in this fashion before Rikku jumping out of her chair and waving while calling out a welcome announced another arrival—Nooj and Lucil.

Paine did her best to hide a small smirk. According to Gippal (she'd talked to him over the commspheres a few days ago), he'd stopped to pay Nooj a visit on his way to Bikanel and had accidentally walked in on the tail end of a tell-all confession. And according to Gippal, Lucil had most definitely reciprocated. No doubt Nooj had brought Lucil with him so they could make a small announcement of their own.

Lucil's presence raised a few eyebrows, but nobody commented and after shaking hands and greeting them all the two sat and soon had their heads together in a personal conversation. Studying him, Paine could tell Nooj seemed happier. It wasn't obvious—he was still his stoic self—but that haunted, hollow look that she'd grown accustomed to seeing had mostly faded from his eyes.

Predictably, it was Lydia who alerted them to the next arrival. As soon as Baralai came into view approaching the entrance to the village, Lydia leapt up and ran out to greet him with an urgency that puzzled Paine. They'd been together only this morning; surely she wasn't that desperate to see him again? The briefest meeting of eyes with Tristan confirmed that he too was curious. Where Lydia and Baralai were standing was out of earshot, but Paine could clearly see her asking him something. Baralai replied and shook his head in a sad or resigned sort of way; though at the same time his hands were clenched into trembling fists. He relaxed them and gripped Lydia's shoulders as he said something else, before the two of them turned and headed back to the group.

Although Baralai seemed to be his usual cool, polite self as he warmly greeted them, Paine wasn't fooled. She didn't know him as well as a sister would not to know an act when she saw one. Underneath that calm exterior, Baralai was simmering with anger. And Lydia, the sort of girl who was passionate and wore her heart on her sleeve, was not doing nearly as good a job of disguising the fact that she was more than a little upset. Paine could tell something was going on, but she was clueless as to what. However, the two seemed to have an unspoken agreement to restrain themselves so as not to spoil the cheerful mood, and Paine decided not to comment.

"Finally," Paine muttered under her breath when Gippal arrived 15 minutes later. She knew she sounded annoyed, but Paine was the master of seeming annoyed when she really wasn't. Gippal was obviously in a good mood, and Paine could feel herself becoming more light hearted as she always was when around him. Gippal embraced Rikku and Lydia, exchanged one-armed hugs with Tristan and Baralai, clapped Tidus on the shoulder, and shook hands with Yuna, Auron, and Lucil, not seeming at all perturbed by the redhead's presence. But when he reached Nooj, Gippal did something special. He gripped Nooj on the shoulder and bent down, whispering something only the two of them could hear. Whatever it was provoked Nooj to mutter something containing the word "brat" and attempt to whack Gippal with his cane. Gippal laughed and dodged the flying length of metal, winking at the now annoyed Nooj before coming to Paine.

"Ready?" he asked, extending an arm. Paine nodded wordlessly and took Gippal's hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet in the middle of a now quiet and expectant crowd.

"You all know Paine and I asked you here," Gippal said. "But I'd bet only three of you have the slightest idea why." Everybody looked around at each other and Paine could sense eyes—especially Yuna's and Rikku's—staring at them, completely clueless. Gippal paused and looked around at them all, enjoying drawing out the suspense. It wasn't until Paine elbowed him sharply in the ribs that he got to the point.

"Ouch! Hold your chocobos. Anyway, we…" he grabbed Paine's right hand, his other groping in a pocket. "Are getting married next month!" He brought out of his pocket a ring and slid it on to the appropriate finger.

Except for Auron, everybody was shocked. Responses ranged from "Why didn't you tell us?" to "I didn't even know you two were together!"

"And that's not all," said Gippal, enjoying the surprise. He glanced at Paine, silently asking if she wanted to speak, but Paine shook her head and he continued.

"In about seven and a half months, we are..." he drew out the silence for a moment, grinning broadly.

"Going to have a baby!" he announced with a flourish. There was silence for a moment, then an even louder reaction. Rikku was jumping up and down and shrieking "A baby! Why didn't you tell me!" Gippal's cousins buried him in hugs, and both of them hugged Paine before she knew quite what had happened. Baralai shoved his personal problems away for long enough to hug them both as well and wish them luck. Auron and Gippal had the traditional father and future son-in-law conversation ("take care of her", "I'll do my best", etc…). Yuna was almost as jumpy as Rikku when she and Tidus wormed their way through the crowd to congratulate them. Nooj and Lucil were calm but nonetheless happy when they too spoke with Gippal and her.

It took everybody a while to calm down to where one person could be heard above the crowd, but when they had Gippal was on his feet again, along with Nooj and Lucil.

"Since Nooj here doesn't know quite what to say, I volunteered to tell you guys his news too," said Gippal, smirking slightly. "As of last week, Lucil and him are going out."

"Really?" asked Baralai, sounding mildly surprised.

They nodded simultaneously, and everyone was up and around them now, especially Lucil. Paine gave Nooj a knowing look, and spoke to the newest member of their interconnected group of relatives, significant others, and friends. Paine sat back down feeling content; she could tell her and Lucil were going to get along well. Behind the professional manner, Lucil was an amicable person; somebody Paine could understand and talk to on her level.

As soon as he could, Baralai was on his feet and silently commanding attention. The look on his face told Paine he wanted to say what he had to and get it over with. Within moments they were quiet again, and Baralai spoke calmly even as his eyes blazed with grief and anger.

"I hate to spoil the good mood," Baralai said. "But I have bad news. I'm being impeached from New Yevon. And I'm leaving Bevelle."

_So that's what they were upset about._ Paine experienced a moment of unpleasant surprise, immediately following which she felt sorry for Baralai. He'd been born and raised in Bevelle, he'd known little else for 20 years, and to have his home and his faith pulled out from under him so suddenly… Paine shivered at the thought. The rest of them were equally shocked. A chorus of "What happened?", "Why?", and "What are you going to do?" rang throughout the circle. Clearly audible was Lydia, with head hung in hands, saying "It's all _my_ fault."

"If you're going to blame anybody," Baralai said sharply, looking at Lydia but speaking to them all. "Blame the Senior Priests of New Yevon for being unfeeling, power hungry, racist…" he trailed off, not being able to find words to describe exactly what the Senior Priests were, but his use of the word 'racist' suddenly put two and two together for Paine and she realized what must have happened.

Gippal, it seemed, hadn't. "What exactly happened?" he asked, looking with concern from Baralai to Lydia and back again.

Baralai let out a frustrated sigh and sat down. "You know Lydia and I spent last week in Bevelle, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, many of the Monks and Priests that have been around since before the Eternal Calm were still holding stubbornly to many of the more… old fashioned ideals. They didn't say anything to me directly, but they were rude to Lydia because…"

"Because I'm Al Bhed," Lydia finished for him, and if Paine hadn't already known it she would have been able to tell from Lydia's face and tone that a racial slur was the worst and most offending insult one could ever throw at an Al Bhed.

"Exactly," said Baralai. "And it only got worse. Then I was called to a private meeting of the Senior Priests this morning and they gave me the ultimatum- my career and reputation or Lydia. I didn't hesitate." A little crooked half smile found its way onto his face, but he still seemed somewhat bitter and helpless.

"Baralai," said Tristan softly. Baralai looked up questioningly.

When Tristan next spoke, his words came slowly but were obviously sincere. "I've reserved judgment up until now because I wanted to get your measure, but it sounds like now's a good time to say this." He took a breath and continued, his voice gaining strength.

"You're… you're a good man," he said. "I respect you. And after the loyalty you just showed my sister… if I didn't trust you or think you were good enough for her before, I do now."

Lydia was staring at her brother, mouth agape and admiration in her eyes. Baralai looked speechless.

"I don't know quite what to say," he said eventually. "I don't deserve-"

"Yes, you do." It was not Tristan who had interrupted him, but Auron.

"I had to make a similar decision when I was your age," Auron continued, and Paine could tell she was the only one who understood what Auron was talking about. "Marry a woman I didn't care for, or be excommunicated from the Warrior Monks. It's not a pleasant dilemma. Doing what you just did takes strength of character not many possess."

Baralai again looked at a loss for words, but accepted the praise with a humble bow of his snowy-haired head.

"Have you realized that you can't be removed from office without valid proof of official wrongdoing?" asked Nooj. "It's Code five of the-"

"I know," said Baralai. "And my personal relationships are hardly official. But they've circumvented the Code." He left it at that for the moment, but the mixture of apprehension and disgust on his face told Paine quite clearly that he knew what the details were.

"Baralai," said Lucil hesitantly, speaking for the first time in several minutes. "You also said you were leaving Bevelle. The Priesthood has the power to excommunicate, but surely they don't have powers of exile?"

"Ah, yes," Baralai murmured. "That's the beauty of their plan. Apparently some of them have just been waiting for an excuse to get me out of Bevelle and as far away as they can."

"But why do they hate you so much?" Rikku asked.

"Because I had the power to expose the truth behind their bureaucracy. I saw things I shouldn't have seen. They resent the fact that Maester Seymour erased my official record of any association with the Crimson Squad and I got away alive. I believe the man leading them favored Kinoc back then."

"You still haven't answered the question," Gippal piped up. "What have these pycdyntc (bastards) got that they're blackmailing you with?"

"Since they don't have anything against me," Baralai said, keeping his voice even remarkably well despite the fact that he was obviously distressed. "They've either bribed or blackmailed the Keeper of the Hall of Records. In order to give the people a reason for why they're impeaching me, they're going to release my confidential records that include the Crimson Squad and tell them that I'm responsible for the mission's failure, and that I committed an act of treason by disobeying direct orders and letting the other 23 candidates in the unit die."

He sounded very close to an emotional breakdown, and Paine couldn't blame him. These bigoted priests could just get rid of him quietly, but they were going out of their way to be cruel. Her feelings of outrage on his behalf were mixed with a kind of helpless sympathy, because she knew there was nothing she could do for him.

"And I'm leaving Bevelle partly of choice but mostly of necessity. Life would be quite unpleasant if I stayed, and I have a feeling someone would find an excuse to arrest me." He spoke in a practical matter now, reciting the facts while keeping his feelings under wraps.

"Why don't you just tell everyone the truth?" Tidus asked.

"Expose them for what they are right now," Tristan added.

Baralai's reply was immediate. "The general population would never believe me," he said. "The Priests have proof, albeit twisted to suit their purposes. I'd just be hurling accusations. But I did speak to Issaru before I left. He'll assume my position until an election can be held. He's promised to do what he can about them, so there's still hope." But the look on his face told Paine that he didn't care any more. Even if he could, she had a feeling he never would return to Yevon. And Paine couldn't help but feel that was a good thing. She exchanged glances with Gippal and Nooj and could tell they agreed. It was a blessing in disguise that Baralai was getting out of a corrupted religious institution before his integrity was broken, and he too got entangled in the bureaucracy.

Several moments passed while Baralai composed himself. When he looked up, he seemed closer to being calm and accepting of his situation then he had all morning.

"The only problem I have that I can actually deal with," he said eventually. "Is the fact that I'm now poor and homeless. I was completely unprepared for something like this to happen."

"Well you don't need to worry about it any more," said Gippal, giving his best friend a pat on the back. "Consider yourself welcome to crash at my place for as long as you want."

"Your place is so messy I'm surprised you can live there, let alone him," Nooj commented, and everybody shared a laugh at Gippal's expense. Paine had not yet seen where Gippal lived at Djose Temple, but she could easily imagine his bedroom in a state of perpetual disarray.

"You can stay in Besaid," Yuna suggested. "You'd be welcome here."

"You'd be appreciated at the Youth League," Lucil added.

"I should make you come with me to Luca," Lydia said, now considerably more cheerful. "We can take you shopping… you need a new look now."

"Yeah!" Rikku agreed enthusiastically. "Like I did with Yunie! We'll make him look cool!"

After a number of other suggestions were tossed around, Baralai decided to stay and enjoy the tranquility of Besaid for the time being, saying he wanted to take a break from living in a large city for a while. He also (after some persuading) promised Lydia that she and Rikku could take him to Luca for a day later in the week. This latter agreement was the source of much amusement- Paine could tell Baralai was wondering what exactly he was getting himself into.

With no announcements left to make, the group began drifting apart in various directions. Lucil and Nooj were heading back to the Youth League via Kilika, but the rest of them were staying on the island. Tidus jogged over to where the Aurochs were practicing, while Yuna headed to Lulu and Wakka's house. Auron took his katana and said something about training, before heading out of the village with Rikku at his side. Baralai and Lydia started strolling away with no apparent destination. Tristan got up and stretched with a deep yawn, his arms reaching over his head to a point almost eight feet in the air. He paused in the middle of this motion and looked down at his ankles, before frowning and walking off towards Besaid's small shops, muttering about getting himself pants that were actually long enough in the leg for once.

"He had the same problem when we lived in Bikanel," Gippal said, watching his cousin from behind. "I remember he always had to have his clothes specially made."

Once they were alone, Gippal suggested they walk down to the beach, so they began heading in the same direction Auron and Rikku had taken a few minutes previously.

"So…" said Gippal. "Wedding to plan, baby to have, and home to make. We've got our work cut out for us."

"Mm-hm." One of the things Gippal had mentioned was making Paine think. They had to find at best a semi-permanent home for them both before their son or daughter was born. They simply couldn't continue these schedules that would take them miles and days apart, even with both of them being able to use airships. The closest thing Paine had ever had to a home had been the Gullwing's airship, but even that hadn't been _hers_. She'd fulfilled her dream of flying on an airship, but not piloting one. It was _that_ dream, that pact that the four of them had made, that had been at the core of everything else she'd wanted for the past two years. Now that relationships between the four of them were as they should be, Paine felt free to think about more personal things that she wanted. And she felt she did want a place to call her own.

"I've been thinking about that, that the three of us are going to need someplace to live," Gippal said, correctly guessing her thoughts. "And if you don't object, I've got an idea. If it comes down to it I'll quit the Machine Faction, but I've only been the leader for six months and Cid and Nhadala both said they want me to stay. I told them I'm going to need a two bedroom place and I'll be away more once the baby's here, and—this is the plan—a wing of Djose Temple can be remodeled for us, like the room I've got now. That way we'll be together and I'll still be able to do my job. And the Temple's huge, so our area can be added on to if the need arises." His last comment took Paine a moment to interpret, then she realized he meant if they had more kids. She filed that thought away in her "revisit a few years from now" section and thought about the possibility at hand.

"Seems like a good idea," she said honestly. "But how soon can it be done?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Gippal. "It can be ready in a month, which I thought was good because we still have time after the wedding for a honeymoon somewhere."

_Makes sense_, Paine thought. She'd never had any objections to Djose. The only 2 places on Spira she'd object to living were Bevelle (for obvious reasons) and the central area of the Mi'ihen Highroad (again, obvious reasons). Other than that she was tolerant.

With that plan agreed upon, they discussed the other matters needing their attention. Firstly was where to have the wedding. They decided on Luca because there were plenty of places where a lot of people could be accomodated, it was politically neutral so nobody could complain, and almost always had pleasant weather.

Then there was who to invite to the wedding. Between them they managed to come up with a bit of paper and pencil and made a list as they walked around. When they were temporarily stumped, they'd come up with 41 people, ranging from their closest friends, to those who they knew would refuse to not be involved (enter Leblanc and Co.), to those invited mostly for politeness (like Trommel). In all there were 33 adults, 6 kids, and 2 infants. Another way of putting it was 11 Al Bhed, 24 human, 3 Ronso, 1 Guado, and 3 Hypello. And that was just the initial list, not counting everybody who would hear about it from Leblanc's gossip spreading or Tobli, Rin, or Oaka's publicity and want to come.

They'd reached the beach by this time, and Paine elected to sit on the sand and watch Gippal as he pulled off his boots, socks, and shirt and dived into the surf. On any other day she could have ran down to the beach and barely been winded, but this morning she felt curiously short of breath and tired. She supposed it was just her body beginning to adapt to accommodate the 7 week old life inside.

She looked around to find that they were alone on the beach. The docks were deserted, a boat bound for Kilika having just left. The Celsius was nowhere in sight; Buddy and Brother were apparently taking a pleasure cruise somewhere in the area. Paine suddenly realized she was thirsty and sweating profusely. She started to get up, but a wave of nausea came over her and she dropped back down onto her knees in the sand.

_What's happening to me?_ She'd felt perfectly fine this morning, but now she felt terrible. Her vision was going in and out of focus and she had a bad feeling she was going to be sick. She opened her mouth to call to Gippal for help, but he'd already noticed and was there.

"Are you alright? You look sick! I shouldn't have brought you out here! It's too hot, too sunny… we need to go back and get Yuna or Lydia to check you out." He slipped an arm around under her shoulders, but before he could help her stand up Paine felt a sudden cramp in her stomach and she threw up.

Now she felt even worse. Paine was trembling and blackness was gathering at the corners of her vision, but she fought to stay conscious. She could hear Gippal shouting for help, but nobody was in hearing range. He then turned to her and hurriedly looked through the two small pouches around her waist that she kept her garment grid, potions, and other supplies in, pulling out her commsphere and wrist communicator.

As Gippal desperately pressed buttons on her commsphere and Shinra's face appeared, Paine was suddenly seized by another debilitating cramp and clutched her stomach, letting out an involuntary moan of pain.

"Shinra!" Gippal yelled. "Paine is really sick! It's an emergency! I don't care where you are, but get Brother to bring that airship here now!"

"We're on our way," came the reply. "We'll be there in five minutes."

"That's six minutes too slow!" said Gippal, and cut the connection. With a fear filled glance at Paine, Gippal snatched up her wrist communicator and examined it, pressing a tiny red button marked "Emergency-ANDS". The watch-like device started beeping and blinking a little red light.

Paine was losing the battle to stay awake. The last thing she remembered was Gippal pulling her into his lap, cradling her against his bare chest, and saying, in a state of barely controlled panic, "You'll be okay… I'm betting Yuna and Rikku will have those communicators and they'll be here any minute… the Celsius too… you and the baby will be fine…". Then her eyes closed and she knew no more.

(I don't often do Author Notes, but there's a few things I want to point out. For those of you who are good at arithmetic you'll have realized that the number of wedding invitees by race is one more than the number by age. That's because I counted Yuna both in the Al Bhed and non Al Bhed categories. As a little side challenge, see if you can tell me all 41 names. I'll start you off—the 3 Hypello are Barkeep, Darling, and their baby who I decided was born just after then end of X-2. All the other people are real and all have names in the game. Several other clues are in the chapter. And before you ask, ANDS stands for All Network Distress Signal—I made it up. My theory was the other Gullwings would have wrist communicators too and they could respond to each other's signals.)


	10. Passing Time

(For the first time ever since I started writing fan fiction a year ago, I am going to switch POV's in this chapter. I don't particularly like doing it, because I think keeping the story through one character's eyes makes it more realistic, but I've deemed it necessary here. There are details I want to write that I would have to pull teeth to find a way Paine could possibly observe them, and it will be an interesting exercise for me. On that note, I promise you will get some interesting insights and bits of backstory in this chapter. It is a bit of a filler, because if I squeezed in all of the action and events to come it would make the chapter way too long, so I'm splitting it up.)

* * *

When he'd first noticed Paine's distress from out in the water, Gippal had immediately been concerned. But that didn't hold a candle to what he felt now. As he sat alone on the beach with Paine's limp body in his lap, not knowing what was wrong and whether help would arrive in time, Gippal experienced an emotion he'd felt only twice before in his eighteen years and five months of life—absolute, total dread. 

_Do something!_ His mind screamed, but the problem was he didn't know what to do. He was helpless. Then he realized—maybe he wasn't. He was no white mage or healer, but he had basic First Aid training.

_Think… think!_ Paine's skin felt hot under his fingers. He needed to reduce the fever. Thinking quickly, he put her down, picked up his shirt, and dashed to the water's edge. He let the garment get thoroughly soaked, then went back to Paine and squeezed the water out over her, washing her face and neck with the cold wet cloth. He didn't now how much it would help her, but it made him feel better to be doing something.

Paine was still breathing, but that breath was shallow and labored. Frightening possibilities flashed through Gippal's mind. She could be having a miscarriage, she could be dying… the thought of losing either his unborn child or his fiancée terrified him. Gippal hugged Paine to him and prayed help would come as soon as possible.

Twenty seconds later it did, in the form of Auron and Rikku sprinting across the beach. When they reached him, Rikku began changing to the White Mage dressphere and Auron knelt beside him and Paine, sparing a glance at Gippal's face before he spoke.

"Paine's signal came in on Rikku's wrist communicator," he said. "What happened?"

Gippal told him and he nodded gravely before turning to his daughter. "Scan," he said, and a blue laser like thread swept over Paine before providing him with her vital statistics.

"It doesn't recognize exactly what's wrong with her," he said after dismissing the magic. "But her life force is fading. She'll lose the baby and die if we don't get her to a proper hospital soon."

"I already called the Celsius," Gippal told him. "In the meantime…" he gestured at Rikku.

While Rikku desperately cast every spell she was capable of, Gippal paced up and down, frustrated by his own helplessness. A full 90 seconds passed in this fashion before two things happened simultaneously—Yuna, Tidus, Lydia, Baralai, and Tristan appeared on the other side of the beach, and the Celsius came into view over the horizon.

Gippal dashed back to Auron and took Paine from him, standing up with her in his arms. Only when they were on the bridge of the airship with Buddy, Brother, and Shinra did he speak to the five who'd just arrived.

"Right," he said, standing up straight and tall, a plan fully formed in his mind. "You three-" he pointed at Lydia, Rikku, and Yuna. "Take Paine and do everything you can until we get to the hospital." He gave Paine to Auron and the older man swiftly left the bridge followed by the three girls, who already had magic crackling at their fingertips.

As soon as they were gone, Gippal turned to Brother, who was staring at him with a strange expression on his face. "I know you don't like me," he said. "But there's no time for me to take your crap. Get this airship off the ground and take us to Bevelle, double-time." It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Brother said nothing and simply did as he was told, lifting them off the ground moments later.

"Are you sure about Bevelle?" Baralai asked hesitantly.

"I thought you didn't like them," Tidus added.

"No, I don't like Bevelle and no, I'm not sure about this," Gippal said. "But Bevelle has the best hospital in Spira. Their healers are the elite. Luca is closer, but not by a lot." Privately, Gippal was hoping he'd done his cost-benefit analysis correctly and made the right choice.

"I can call ahead and arrange a medi-hover to meet us at the gates of Bevelle," said Buddy. "There's no way we'll be able to land in the middle of the city."

"Good point," said Gippal. "You do that. And… thanks." Buddy nodded and turned back to his console. Gippal turned back around to find Baralai and Tidus staring at his face.

"What?" he asked, and they both looked away. It was Tidus who eventually broke the silence.

"Your thing…" Tidus said, gesturing at his eye. Gippal's hand flew up to his blind right eye and he suddenly understood. Somewhere in all the commotion, his eye patch had come off. His scarred right eye that he had hidden from everyone since that traumatic episode almost five years ago was exposed for the entire world to see. Rikku and Tristan knew exactly what had happened, but he'd never told Paine, Nooj, or Baralai, and Lydia had already left for Bevelle two years before the incident. He had never told _anybody_ what had happened to his eye. Until now, very few people had even _seen_ his eye.

He sighed. Getting angry and defensive wasn't going to help. But before he could say anything Auron came in, carrying a pile of clothes. He handed Gippal a dry shirt, socks, boots… and another eye patch.

"I noticed because I can sympathize," Auron said, answering Gippal's question before he asked it. "You can't tell now, but twelve years ago I lost the same eye. I, however, preferred sunglasses." Gippal nodded, remembering the first time he'd ever met Auron. It had been in the Bikanel Desert during Yuna's pilgrimage, and the ostensibly 35 year old guardian had indeed been wearing sunglasses.

As he put on the clothes he'd been given, Gippal's mind was working fast. Normally he'd go mysteriously deaf whenever anybody enquired about the injury to his eye, but with Paine's life in danger Gippal found that his pride hardly mannered to him anymore. And they'd all already seen the damage now anyway. By the time he'd fastened his new eye patch, Gippal had made his decision.

"Since it'll take us a little while to get to Bevelle and I need something to pass the time, I'll tell you guys the story behind my eye. Trey here knows most of what happened, anyway. He knows parts of it better than I do."

Tristan nodded. "That's why I wasn't surprised to see you with it off," he said, and Gippal suddenly remembered that Tristan hadn't been staring at him moments before.

Gathering strength from the look of encouragement and understanding his older cousin was giving him, Gippal began his story.

"To this day I haven't stopped hating myself," he said. "Rikku and I would have died if it hadn't been for Tristan being in the right place at the right time, and it was all my fault to begin with. The whole thing wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so overconfident."

He paused, putting his head in his hands as he dredged up the painful memories. "It happened back when we lived on Bikanel Island," he said eventually. "After Lydia left but before any of us did. Rikku was almost thirteen and I was thirteen and a half. I can still remember…"

_"I'm bored!" Rikku whined, flopping down on a chair next to her best friend and foster brother, Gippal. "Everyone's gone! There's nothing to do!"_

_"Don't I know it," the teenage boy muttered, turning his gaze from the window to the young girl beside him. "Home is nice and all, but as soon as I'm old enough I'm leaving and joining the Crusaders."_

_"Yeah!" Rikku exclaimed enthusiastically. "And a little bit after that my cousin Yuna's going to be a summoner and I'm going to go be her guardian!"_

_For a few moments both children were quiet, lost in grand fantasies of what they were going to leave their home for in two and a half year's time. Then Gippal broke the silence._

_"How about we go to the Oasis and go swimming?"_

_"We can't!" Rikku said sharply. "You know we're not old enough to go out in the desert by ourselves! There's fiends! And sandstorms! We'll get lost!"_

_"No we won't!" Gippal insisted. "I know the way! I'll protect you if any fiends attack us! Please?"_

_The sight of his puppy dog eyes and confident, self assured grin put an end to Rikku's protests. Within minutes, the two youths were running across the sand dunes away from their home._

"And of course," said Gippal, his voice a mixture of bitterness and sarcasm. "We got attacked as soon as we got there. It was a Sand Wolf."

"A dominant male," Tristan added.

"Yeah. Nowadays I'd have it beat with no trouble at all, but five years ago I had no training. I wasn't even carrying a gun. Rikku got knocked out early in the fight and I wasn't doing well either. Then-" Gippal tapped his eye patch. "It got the better of me."

_Gippal stabbed the wolf in the shoulder with his dagger, but the fiend barely seemed to feel the blade. The wolf lunged—Gippal ducked and moved to roll out of the way but wasn't quick enough—and the wolf's claws, instead of striking his heart as would have happened had he remained standing, found contact on his face, tearing at his right eye and immediately striking him blind. He screamed in pain and dropped to the ground where he lay curled in a defensive position, both hands covering his eye and blood streaming from between his fingers._

"I honestly thought we were done for," Gippal said with a shudder. "Then some mysterious person comes running out of nowhere, and he's got spells, grenades, and guns. Takes down the fiend in all of about ten seconds. Lo and behold, it was Tristan. It was the first time in my life I ever thanked Yevon."

"Me too," said Tristan. "I never used to believe in miracles, but I just happened to be assigned to patrol duty that took me by the Oasis that day, and it just so happened that I was ambushed and spent ten minutes getting my ass kicked in a one-way fist fight. I could have handled one or two, maybe even three, but half a dozen of my ex-friends and distant cousins ganged up on me, and they took advantage of the fact that I didn't want to hurt them unless I had to. I ended up with a bunch of nasty bruises, a sprained wrist, and a fractured rib, but if it hadn't been for that I would have long since left the oasis. I was just approaching when I heard Gippal yelling."

"You never told me that," Gippal muttered. "I was impressed enough that you tackled the fiend when I thought you were perfectly healthy. If you were injured that's even more amazing."

Tristan lowered his head and shrugged self consciously. "There's a lot I never told you," he said. "There were severe political ramifications from that incident, with my… our family's influence and Rikku being who she was. There's a whole other side to that story you're not aware of, but you've got a right to know. Someday when there's time, I'll tell you."

Gippal nodded to show he'd heard. Telling his story had had two good results. It had been therapeutic—the long term pain of guilt wasn't so acute anymore. And it had also passed time. But now his mind was centered on Paine and her illness again. He fidgeted and looked up, to find that the three other people in the cockpit had also been listening. Shinra was on his knees on his chair, facing them over the back of the headrest, Buddy was staring at them, his expression unreadable behind opaque goggles, and Brother had his back to them all but he'd gone oddly still and Gippal knew he'd been listening.

They looked at each other for a moment, then by some unspoken agreement all looked away and Buddy and Brother resumed their previous activities. Shinra, however, continued to stare at them for several seconds (at least Gippal thought he was, seeing as Shinra's face couldn't be seen behind his mask/helmet), then abruptly jumped off his chair and left the bridge without a word.

"What about Nooj?" Baralai asked after a few moments' silence. Gippal blinked in surprise; he'd completely forgotten. Of course Nooj needed to be informed. Gippal wasn't selfish enough to think he was the only one who cared about Paine. If he was Nooj he'd want to know, too.

"Where are they?" Buddy asked, swiveling around in his seat to face them.

"En route from Besaid to Kilika," Gippal told him. "The best you can do is leave a message with the Youth League contingent on Kilika Island."

"I'm on it," Buddy said, and he turned swiftly back to his computer.

After several minutes of tense, worried silence, Gippal couldn't take it anymore. He needed to be alone. He wanted to vent his fear and grief in private. He stood up and four voices simultaneously asked "where are you going?"

"Up on deck until we get to Bevelle," Gippal said briefly, and left. He half expected one of them to call out after him, to stop him from leaving, but they seemed to understand. He got on the elevator, and, resisting the urge to go down and see Paine and the girls as he knew he wouldn't be of use, pressed the button for the deck. But when Gippal stepped out into the bright sunlight, he discovered he wasn't alone. There was another person on the deck, that Gippal had never seen before.

The stranger was short, coming up to just below Gippal's shoulder. He had short, straight hair that was, strangely, turquoise, and was wearing a simple pair of boots and navy blue pants with a white shirt. Then the figure turned around. Gippal found himself looking at a boy of about 13 at the oldest, whose eyes were two different colors (one was gold, a rare but not unheard of color, and the other was blue) and whose ears were slightly pointed like a Guado's. But unlike a Guado, the boy's face was smooth and completely vein-free.

"Strange, isn't it?" said the boy as he walked up to Gippal, and the familiar voice made him realize who this must be.

"Shinra?" Gippal asked in amazement. "But… I thought you were Al Bhed!"

"I am," Shinra replied simply. "I was raised Al Bhed and I'm at least half by blood, otherwise both of my eyes would be the same color. I'm part Guado as well, but somewhere I have to have human blood because my hair is naturally straight and my face is different, and only they can have gold eyes. My adoptive parents never told me, but my guess is I'm half Al Bhed and a quarter each Guado and human."

"So that's why you always wore that full body suit," said Gippal. It was making sense to him now. Many people would brand such a child a freak. He would have faced alot of discrimination, growing up in Bikanel.

"Exactly. To avoid racism. I was starting to think differently when I met Yuna, but it was your story that made me change my mind. Compared to you I have no reason to hide my face. I was just on my way inside to… tell everyone."

"You should go then," said Gippal, for lack of anything better to say. Shinra disappeared inside and Gippal walked to the edge of the deck and sat.

Once again he'd been temporarily distracted, and once again the seriousness of the situation was coming back to him. Gippal could think of a few different things that might be wrong with Paine, and none of them boded well for her or their baby. But guessing wasn't going to do him any good. All he could really do was hope that somehow they would all come through this okay and that the healers in Bevelle could prove their worth.

"Why is this happening to us?" he asked the cloudless sky. "Are we all cursed or something? As soon as something good happens we get some sort of tragedy? Paine's fighting for her life, Baralai's been exiled… is Lucil going to die now and make Nooj suicidal all over again? Are we all just not meant to be happy?"

"Paine doesn't deserve this," he muttered to himself, his voice breaking at one point. "She's had enough bad things happen to her already. She deserves happiness more than any of us."

Gippal lost track of time as he sat there on the deck, talking to himself. It took several seconds before he realized that the airship was beginning to slow down and that Brother had just announced that they were approaching Bevelle. He got up and walked back inside the airship to the elevator, wiping his eyes with his sleeve as he went.


	11. Treason?

_Where am I?_ Gippal wondered as he looked around at the scene he found himself in. Then the memories suddenly clicked—he was in Home's open air market. It had been one of his favorite places as a child. But now, the normally noisy and bustling place was silent. The people simply walked around him as if he didn't exist. He was a mere phantom in this memory.

_I must be dreaming_, he thought. _But this sure is a strange dream_. Just then, he thought he heard somebody call his name.

"Gippal." There it was again. A voice—a man's voice—was trying to get his attention. Gippal spun around, looking for a familiar face in the crowd. At first he didn't see a single face that he knew. Then suddenly, he did—but it wasn't a face he expected to see.

The man standing before him was tall—almost as tall as Tristan—and looked to be in his early 30's. He had spiralled blue eyes, sandy blond hair, and a small earring identical to Gippal's own in his left ear as well as a tattoo on his right arm—a blitzball with the name Arya underneath it. Though it had been ten years since he'd died, Gippal would recognize that face anywhere.

"Vydran?" (Father?) he asked hesitantly. Gippal's father smiled despite a sad look in his eyes and nodded, and Gippal went over to join him.

"E's bnuitan uv oui dryh E phy cyo, Gippal," (I'm prouder of you than I can say, Gippal) his father said. "Oui knaf ib du pa ajanodrehk ouin sudran yht E luimt ryja ycagt vun yht suna. Yht oui tet ed ihtan dra faekrd uv suna pintahc dryh yho uha bancuh cruimt ryja du lynno." (You grew up to be everything your mother and I could have asked for and more. And you did it under the weight of more burdens than any one person should have to carry.)

"Yht huf E'ja kud dra pekkacd uha uv ymm," (And now I've got the biggest one of all) Gippal replied bitterly. "Paine's celg hyt drana'c hudrehk yhoputo lyh tu ypuid ed." (Paine's sick and there's nothing anybody can do about it.)

Gippal's father laid a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Oui sicd ryja vyedr," (You must have faith) he said. "Oui ryja du pa cduhk, vun ouincamv yht ran. Hu syddan fryd, hajan mad ouin cunnuf pnehk oui du tu cusadrehk oui sekrd nakand. Ajahdiymmo rybbehacc femm lusa du oui." (You have to be strong, for yourself and her. No matter what, never let your sorrow bring you to do something you might regret. Eventually happiness will come to you.)

"Huf E sicd ku," (Now I must go) he said gently. "Ed ec desa vun oui du yfygah. Ouin vneahtc ryja hafc vun oui." (It is time for you to awaken. Your friends have news for you.)

Gippal sighed. On one hand, his father had given him reason to hope again, but on the other hand he didn't want to leave him just yet. "Drygh oui, vydran," (Thank you, father) he said eventually. "Dra vencd cuh E… fa ryja E's kuehk du hysa yvdan oui." (The first son I... we have I'm going to name after you.)

His father smiled. "E muug vunfynt du ed," (I look forward to it) he said. "Ouin sudran yht E femm pa fydlrehk ujan oui." (Your mother and I will be watching over you.)

"Ihdem fa saad ykyeh," (Until we meet again) his father said, and they embraced. "E muja oui yht cu tuac ouin sudran. Kuut milg." (I love you and so does your mother. Good luck.)

"Dryhgc, vydran," (Thanks, father) said Gippal, and his dream faded to black.

When Gippal woke up, he could immediately discern three things—it was still dark (meaning he hadn't slept very long), somebody had given him a blanket and pillow after he'd fallen asleep on this spartan couch, and he was alone.

He sat up and looked around, taking a moment to remember where he was and what had transpired the previous day. They'd gotten to the hospital about 3 in the afternoon, at which time Paine had been rushed away by waiting healers. A young apprentice healer had come out to the waiting room where they were all gathered 15 minutes later to ask Gippal for a better description of her symptoms. Nooj and Lucil had arrived at 5:30, the Celsius having been sent to get them from Kilika. They'd spent most of the rest of the afternoon and evening in wait mode, sitting tensely on chairs and couches. Tristan had left at 6 PM to get them all dinner, returning not only with food but also with news—word of Baralai's impeachment had gotten around, and the citizens of Bevelle were split down the middle. Many were refusing to buy the story, but for every one of those was somebody who had been convinced by the Priest's lies, and people of opposing viewpoints were fighting and arguing all over the city. Gippal had finally fallen asleep around midnight, after several hours with no new word from the healers.

_Where is everybody?_ Gippal got up and walked out into the corridor, looking in both directions. The lights were dimmed and aside from the occasional Healer hurrying by the hall was deserted. It seemed to be early morning.

His question of where everybody was was quickly answered when he heard familiar voices speaking down the hall. He followed the sound and stopped when he could clearly hear what was being said, just around the corner from the main reception area of the hospital.

"…going to be alright." That was Rikku, sounding relieved.

"She won't be." That was Auron. "Living is one thing. Recovering is quite another. I should know."

"Me too," Nooj interjected. "Paine's like me—she'll internalize. You'll think she's taking the loss much better than she actually is."

"Should we tell Gippal?" Lydia asked.

"Wait until he wakes up," came Tristan's voice. "Yevon knows he needs the sleep."

Gippal wasn't listening to their conversation any longer. He just stood there, frozen in shock. Paine was going to live, but by the sounds of it she'd had a miscarriage. Not only had Gippal gotten used to the idea of Paine having the baby, but he'd begun to look forward to it. He could tell she'd been as well. The sudden loss would be hard on them both.

He finally forced his legs into jerky motion and walked into the room. The nine people gathered there stopped talking and looked at him, with expressions ranging from uncertainty to fear to pity.

"You don't have to tell me," he said. "Paine lost the baby, didn't she?" A few of them nodded and Gippal sighed with relief as well as sadness. He couldn't help but feel grief at the loss of a child he'd never know, but as long as Paine would be okay little else mattered. They could always have another baby.

"So how is she?" Gippal asked eventually, sitting down between Auron and Tristan.

"She's sleeping," Baralai said softly. "The healers said she'll need to stay here for at least a few weeks, but she should be fine."

"Thank Yevon," Gippal muttered to himself. "If she'd… I don't know what I would have done." Then he looked up at the others. "Did they find out what was wrong in the first place?"

"Apparently it was some rare virus that only ever affects pregnant women," Tristan replied. "It makes the body think the baby is some sort of foreign antibody."

"Paine was really lucky," Rikku added. "They said she would have died if it hadn't been for us."

"Most women do," Auron said. "The healers said they've never seen a case that didn't result in either death or a miscarriage, most being the former of the two."

Gippal put his head in his hands and let out a noise somewhere between a deep sigh and a stifled sob. "I'm just glad she's alright," he muttered.

For a few moments, there was relative quiet. Then Gippal heard somebody get up and walk over to him, and then there was suddenly a pair of hands on his back, gently kneading his neck and shoulders. He turned his head to thank who he assumed was probably Lydia, but to his surprise saw Lucil.

"You looked like you needed it," she said in response to his inquiring glance. Gippal thanked her and put his head back down, welcoming the cool relief to his tense muscles. They stayed that way for a few minutes, but before long Gippal heard noises. Banging doors, stomping feet, and demanding voices. It sounded like a group of soldiers were coming their way.

"Uh-oh," Tidus said nervously. Lucil left Gippal and went to Nooj's side, casting a worried glance at the door. Gippal looked around at his friends, trying to figure out why soldiers would be disturbing the hospital. But before he could figure out what was going on, his question was answered.

The doors were banged open and a squad of twelve Warrior Monks marched inside. Ignoring shocked protests from the Apprentice Healers at the reception desk, they came up to them and the man who must have been the ranking officer spoke.

"You," he barked, pointing at Baralai. "You are Baralai Galen, formerly the Praetor of New Yevon. Correct?"

Baralai stood up and faced his questioner. "Yes," he said politely. "What business do you have with me?"

The man sighed and signaled to his fellow Warrior Monks (two of whom were female), who placed their hands on their weapons and adopted a ready stance.

"You're under arrest," he said. "You are to stand trial in the High Court of Yevon for treason."

Gippal felt like a physical blow had struck him. _Treason? No way! They can't do that!_ He looked around at his friends. Yuna looked shocked and whispered "Treason?" in a small voice. Tidus looked angry. Rikku gasped and was clinging to Auron, and Auron was glaring daggers at the Warrior Monks as he held Rikku in his arms. Nooj had an equally menacing expression on his face. Lucil had gone pale and seemed to be speechless. Lydia was gaping at them, horrified. Tristan looked furious and he also seemed wary, as though he were expecting a fight to break out at any moment.

"I'm sorry about this," the man added, sounding less professional and more regretful. "Personally I don't believe a word of any of it, but orders are orders. You must come with us."

Baralai sighed in a resigned sort of way, but when he spoke his voice contained a quiet but at the same time impressive sort of dignity. "Of course," he said. "May I have a moment?" The Warrior Monk nodded and all twelve of them drew back to the door. Baralai turned away from the soldiers to face them.

"Hey," said Tidus. "Don't worry about it. They couldn't do it to Yuna and they won't do it to you either." He clapped Baralai on the shoulder and Baralai gave him a grateful look before turning to Yuna. She grasped his hand briefly and told him that he would be okay, that he _had_ to be okay. Lucil and Nooj said they would do everything in their power to get him acquitted. Rikku, in her social and empathetic way, hugged him and told him not to let those "Yevon creeps" get to him. He shook hands with Auron and Auron told him he had faith that Baralai would make it through this.

When Baralai reached Gippal he gave him a weak grin. "Tell Paine I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye," he said. Gippal blinked a few times and pulled his best friend into a hug.

"I will," he said. "But if you don't come out of this alive and well Paine and I will _both_ kick your ass." Baralai chuckled a little and moved away from him to face Tristan.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, speaking to his boots instead of looking the necessary seven or eight inches up at Tristan's face. "You were right not to trust me. All I've done is get Lydia into trouble, and now I'm leaving. I deserve everything you ever said about me. E's cunno." (I'm sorry.) Baralai shifted nervously and looked up then, and Gippal could see a mixture of fear, guilt, and respect on his friend's face.

There was guilt in Tristan's expression as well. Guilt, disbelief, self-loathing, sadness, and… respect. As much if not more than Baralai obviously awarded him. A moment's silence passed before Tristan did what seemed to be the last thing Baralai was expecting—he embraced him.

"Don't you _ever_ let me hear you say that again," he said. "It's me who should be apologizing—I was wrong about you. I shouldn't have been so cynical. I... jumped to conclusions." If the situation had been less serious, Gippal might have laughed. He remembered only too well Tristan's reaction to hearing that of all the men on Spira she could have picked, his little sister just _had_ to have a relationship with the one who was both a priest and a politician—Tristan's two least favorite (and, in his opinion, least trustworthy) people in the world.

Baralai muttered a soft "Thank you," and turned to face the last and hardest farewell of all. Lydia was shaking and tears had welled up in her spiraled green eyes. She looked like a lost, fearful little girl rather than the mature, independent young woman that she was, and the sight filled Gippal with anger. _Do these bastards have any idea how much pain they're causing? This isn't right!_

Lydia threw herself at Baralai, who accepted her with open arms and hugged her tightly. "You can't go," she half-whispered into his shirt. "What if they decide to… _execute_ you?"

"They won't," Baralai said reassuringly. "If there's one shred of law or decency left in Yevon it won't happen. We have to have faith." One of the Warrior Monks made an impatient noise then, and over Lydia's shoulder Baralai shot him a glare that immediately made the man flinch and shut his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Lydia," he said softly. "I have to go." He turned away from her and said goodbye to them all before walking away to join the Squad of Warrior Monks guarding the door. With their guns out, they marched off with him in their midst. It wasn't until after the door had clicked shut behind them that Lydia put her head in her hands and quietly began to cry.

Gippal's eyes widened in concern and he swiftly went to his cousin's side. Together he and Tristan tried their best to comfort Lydia, but they might have been talking to 2 month old Vidina for all the good it seemed to be doing. Meanwhile, everybody else was caught in various states of shock, anger, or some combination thereof.

They stayed that way for several minutes, Lydia slowly calming down as they discussed what, if anything could be done. Tidus was just saying that it would be a lot less trouble if somebody would just shoot the Chairman of the Senior Priests when the doors opened again, this time quietly. Gippal looked up to see a rather stressed looking Issaru, and was immediately seized with a desire to punch the ex-summoner in the face. _He's in charge, he should have been able to stop this!_ Judging by his expression, Issaru knew what had happened and knew they weren't happy with him.

"Issaru…" Lydia hissed. "How could you!" She was shaking again, but this time it was with suppressed fury. She suddenly moved as if to jump out of her seat, but Gippal and Tristan each grabbed one of her arms to keep her in it.

"How could you!" she said again. "I thought he was your friend! How could you do this to him?"

"Don't you think I tried to stop them?" Issaru asked quietly. "If you'll let me explain…" he waited a few seconds to make sure nobody else was going to start shouting at him before he sat down and continued.

"New Yevon is in turmoil," he said eventually. "I've barely been able to keep the Temple from becoming a war zone. Those that are loyal to the Chairman want Baralai dead. When word got back that he'd been sighted here, well… the troops weren't happy. If I hadn't signed off on the order for his arrest they would have rebelled and done it anyway, and Baralai might well have ended up dead before his trial could ever take place."

"Where've they taken him?" Lydia asked. She seemed calmer now, but Gippal maintained a precautionary grip on her upper arm nonetheless.

"I don't know," Issaru replied. "But after I leave here I intend to find out."

"Who's in charge of the court, anyway?" Tidus asked. "Who actually makes the decision?"

Issaru sighed. "I am," he said. "The High Court consists of five members—the Praetor, the Commander of the Warrior Monks, the Keeper of the Hall of Records, the Chief of the temple's mages, and… the Chairman of the Senior Priests."

"Hey!" Rikku exclaimed suddenly. "Didn't Baralai say something about the Chairman bullying the Keeper into releasing his file in the first place?"

"Yeah, he did," said Gippal. "So that makes it one for, two against, and… two neutral?" He looked at Issaru for confirmation and Issaru nodded.

"I don't know Cleon Loire very well… he's the Chief Mage. But Siri Kenobi has a good head on her shoulders, and she's managed to stay impartial for the last 24 hours. If she has any opinions, she's smart enough to not say anything."

Auron suddenly spoke up then. "I thought women weren't allowed positions of command in the Warrior Monks or the Crusaders higher than Captain," he said.

"That used to be true," Issaru said. "That was one of the first laws Baralai petitioned to have changed when he was elected last year." A moment's silence passed before Issaru spoke again.

"If all goes well his trial should be in a week or two," he said. "I should be back later today after I find out where he's being kept. If I'm lucky I'll be able to get you in to see him."

Another few moments of silence passed before Issaru stood up. "I'm truly sorry about this," he said. "I hoped that I'd never have to be involved in the condemnation of another innocent person-" for some reason that Gippal couldn't comprehend, Issaru seemed to be directing these words at Yuna. "But it seems that after more than 2 years, some are still manipulating the teachings to serve their own purposes."

"If you'll excuse me," Issaru continued. "I have an emergency meeting with Commander Siri." He made the sign of prayer and swiftly exited the room.

Coming into the room almost as soon as Issaru left it was a brown haired, gray eyed girl in long white robes. Gippal recognized her as an apprentice healer who had already come to them several times to ask for information and update them on Paine's condition. She hurried over to them, and Gippal could see she looked happy.

The teenage girl hastily made the sign of prayer and said "Your friend, she's waking... you may come see her now." Gippal's head jerked up and he looked first at the breathless grinning healer, then around at his friends.

"You go," said Nooj. "She'd rather hear it from you. I know she would."

"Go to her," Auron added. "We'll wait here." Gippal nodded and stood up then, following the apprentice healer down a hallway, around a corner, and through one of the many doors into a private hospital room.

Gippal barely even registered that the healer had left him alone and closed the door to give them privacy. His eyes were locked on Paine, who was stirring restlessly beneath her blankets as though emerging from a deep sleep.

He crossed the room to her bedside and took one of her hands in his. Looking down, he realized he'd grabbed the hand which held her engagement ring—a silver band set with a fiery red crystal. Gippal had had it custom made by an Al Bhed jeweller (whom he'd gone to on Nhadala's recommendation) in Luca.

Gippal was staring out the window, lost in thought, when he felt a sudden pressure on his hand—Paine was returning his grip. He looked down at their hands and then up at Paine's face, and felt a mixture of relief and joy rush through him. For the first time since this nightmare had began almost 24 hours ago, Paine's crimson eyes were open and her gaze was on him.


	12. Familiarity

(Assuming I don't have another attack of overexcited muses, there should be 4-5 more chapters before the end. This chapter will be changing POV's once again to Lydia. Next chapter will be Baralai's trial and I can guarantee that from that point on we'll be back to Paine's POV. WARNING—there is a non-graphic mention of intimacy in this chapter. I didn't want to have to up the rating so I skipped the actual act and just kind of implied that it happened. I already have an idea for my next fic—I'm thinking of doing a Star Wars and FFX/X-2 crossover. I already know who I'm going to have as which character, but my question to you is this—should I go in the order they were made or the order they were set? Should I start with Episode I or IV? Tell me what you think. And as always, enjoy the chapter and leave me lots of nice long reviews!)

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I can't believe it,_

Lydia thought, as she watched Gippal follow the young healer around the corner and out of sight. I_ knew Siri was in command of the Warrior Monks, but I completely forgot she's on the court, too. She's definitely on our side, so that means it all comes down to Cleon Loire._

Lydia opened her mouth to tell everyone what she knew about the Commander of the Warrior Monks, but no sooner had she begun to speak when she was interrupted by Shinra and Calli walking through the door, each carrying a covered tray as well as bags containing what sounded like liquid filled bottles. The two kids put their loads on a nearby table, Calli happily exclaiming that they'd made breakfast, and Shinra (looking self conscious and still not used to showing his face) explaining that the trays contained fruit, hot toast, jam, and butter, and that they'd brought along bottles of juice.

Lydia took some food and began eating, watching Shinra as she did so. She'd only seen him briefly the day before, but now that she was able to get a good look at him she was puzzled. Everything about him seemed so familiar. _I know who I think he looks like_, she thought to herself. _But that's not all of it. He's familiar in more than one way. There's somebody else_… Lydia suddenly realized who else Shinra reminded her of and her jaw dropped.

_No way… I can't believe it… It's not possible…_ In her mind's eye the puzzle fit. But before she could ask Shinra any questions to confirm her suspicions, Tristan nudged her and asked what she'd been about to tell them all a few minutes earlier. Everybody looked at her curiously and Lydia decided to talk first and ask Shinra questions later.

"What I was going to say," she began. "Is that I didn't mention it in front of Issaru, but I know Siri Kenobi and she's definitely on our side. She and I are old friends. For a while she was the only good friend I had. And she was also one of the few people smart enough to recognize me as being an Al Bhed."

"I've never met her," Lucil said. "But her brother Liam is in the Youth League." Lydia nodded in agreement, but before she could explain further Tidus piped up.

"I don't know if they still play now, but two years ago there were these two guys on the Guado Glories blitz team and their last name was Kenobi," he said.

"One of my fellow trainees when I first joined the Warrior Monks was an Anakin Kenobi," Auron added, a thoughtful expression on his face. "We were good friends."

"Geez," said Rikku. "And I thought having one sibling was bad enough. Exactly how many brothers has this girl got?"

"Six," Lydia informed them. "Poor Siri is the youngest of seven and she's the only girl. She just turned 26 last month, and she's got Liam, who's 27… Squall and Seifer are identical twins and they're 29… then there's Rowan, who's 31… Laguna is 34, almost 35, and Anakin is 37, turning 38 this autumn. (A/N: I see it as approaching the end of summer at this point in the fic) Siri and Liam are both single and unattached, but the others are all married and four out of the five of them have kids. The only one who doesn't is Squall, and his wife is about seven months pregnant with their first child."

"Wow… that's a big family," Calli said eventually.

"So she's a Guado?" Tristan asked. Lydia shook her head.

"Half Guado, half human," she said. "Siri, Liam, and Anakin look a bit more human, the twins lean towards Guado features, and Rowan and Laguna are right about in the middle, but they're all fifty-fifty by blood. And all seven of them, Siri included, are over six feet tall."

"Her too?" Rikku asked. "Man, I thought you were tall, Liddy, but you're not six feet, are you?"

"Nope," Lydia replied. "Siri's got about three inches on me. She's six foot one, Laguna is about your height, Tristan, and the others are somewhere in between."

"You sure she's on our side?" Tidus asked. "She's not some anti-al bhed nutcase?"

"She's got nothing against Al Bhed," Lydia assured him. _How could she, when her best friend and three of her sisters-in-law are Al Bhed?_ "According to her, way back about... thirteen and a half years ago some Al Bhed guy-" _and now I think I know exactly who…_ "Um, forcefully took advantage of her, if you get my drift, but she was smart enough to realize that he was just one bad person and not all Al Bhed are evil." They all seemed to accept that information, and as conversations turned to other matters Lydia was finally able to talk to Shinra.

"Hey, Shinra," she said gently. Shinra looked up at her questioningly, a piece of toast halfway to his mouth. "How old are you?"

"Twelve," he said, clearly wondering why she wanted to know.

"Twelve and how many months?" she asked. "When's your birthday?"

"I turn thirteen in two months," he said. "My birthday's on the 50th day of Autumn. Why?"

"Just wondering," she said quickly. _I can't believe it. That fits exactly with what she told me_. "You remind me of somebody, that's all. I assume you were adopted?"

Shinra nodded. "I don't know anything about my real family," he said. "Both my adoptive parents died by the time I was seven. From then to when Home was destroyed I lived with my friend Benzo and his family. Do you know something about my real parents? Is that why you're asking?"

Lydia nodded. "I think I might know something, but I'm not making any guarantees," she said. "I've got to ask a few more people, just to be sure. If I figure something out you'll be the first one to know, I promise." Shinra nodded and returned to his food, a new spark of hope and curiousity in his eyes. The more she watched him, the more sure Lydia became. Shinra had a lot of his mother in him, and looked so much like some of his uncles and cousins it was astonishing. But unfortunately, something of his father lingered in his face and one blue eye.

The ten of them ate and talked for another half hour, filling in Shinra and Calli about the latest unfortunate event and seeking to reassure each other that there was no way Baralai could possibly be found guilty. After a half hour or so Gippal reappeared, looking emotionally strained but otherwise okay.

"You guys can come now," he said. "Paine's up. I already told her everything. She actually took it better than I expected." Lydia got up and grabbed the spare juice bottles, giving Gippal one for himself and one for Paine. Tristan grabbed the remaining food, and they followed Gippal into Paine's room.

Paine was waiting for them, sitting up in bed with the pillows supporting her back, and apart from looking pale and tired she seemed otherwise healthy. Rikku ran up and hugged her, closely followed by Yuna and Calli.

"We were so worried about you!" Rikku exclaimed.

"How are you feeling?" Calli asked as they all sat down around the room.

Paine raised one eyebrow. "You honestly want to know?" She sighed and grimaced. "I feel like I've been stabbed in the stomach." She frowned at their sympathy filled expressions.

"Don't make that face," she said. "As I reminded Gippal, this isn't the first time I've cheated the Farplane. It's not even my second or third. I've felt worse than this before, believe me." She accepted a single piece of dry toast, declining both the fruit and juice for fear of not being able to keep them down in her present condition, and nibbled on it as Lydia re-explained what she'd said about Siri Kenobi earlier.

"And there's another thing I just remembered about Siri," she said. "Her right arm from the elbow downwards is a machina implant. Luckily for her she's left handed."

"How'd she lose it?" Gippal asked curiously.

"Three years ago Siri had just become a Captain in the Warrior Monks," Lydia said. "They were supporting the Crusaders when they fought Sin at Djose early that summer, and after Sin fled Siri and her unit were going in and removing as many of the wounded as they could before fiends or sinspawn got to them. Siri was trying to help this young guy from Besaid when they were ambushed by sinspawn and her arm was pretty much bitten off. The guy she was trying to save died and she almost did, too. She still has occasional nightmares about it to this day. She's been to the Farplane so she knows he was sent, but she says she thinks she would have been able to save him if she hadn't gotten injured."

"What do we know about Baralai?" Paine asked after a few moments' silence. "What'd Issaru say?"

"Not much," Gippal said with a shrug. "Basically that he'd be back when he figured out where they'd taken Baralai. Which hopefully should be any time now."

_It had better be_, Lydia thought to herself, as she cast a glance out the window at the now fully risen sun. _I'm going to go crazy if I have to sit here and do nothing for much longer_. And indeed, she soon felt like she couldn't sit still any longer. She got up and started pacing back and forth from the door as the others kept talking.

Lydia had lost count of how many circuits of the room she'd completed when somebody knocked on the door. She looked over her shoulder at her friends before going to open it. Expecting to see Issaru, Lydia jumped back in surprise when she saw Siri Kenobi standing in the doorway.

Her friend hadn't changed much in the 2 months since Lydia had last seen her. She still had the same lean and muscled physique that came from countless hours of running laps and sword training. She still possessed the same cat-like poise and natural grace that over six years of knowing her, Lydia had tried and failed to emulate. The summer sun had tanned Siri's skin a few shades, making invisible a very faint pattern of veins on her face. Siri had a Guado's pointed ears, but her eyes gave away her human heritage—they were bright gold. Her hair was turquoise but didn't have a single hint of the spikes or curls that were typical of Guado people- it was perfectly straight and kept back from her head in one long, thick braid that came down nearly to her knees, rivaling Yuna's pink-wrapped braid in length. With very few exceptions (soldiers with an arrest warrant being one of them) weapons were not allowed in the hospital, so Siri seemed to be unarmed, but Lydia knew for a fact that ever since she'd been raped over thirteen years ago, Siri always kept daggers concealed on her person. She was wearing the familiar green and white Warrior Monk uniform, with only the commander's insignia on the left side of her chest setting her apart from the other Warrior Monks.

Lydia felt her eyes tearing up again and impulsively hugged her friend. "Why, Siri?" she asked. "Why are they doing this? What did he ever do to them?"

"I don't know, Lydia," Siri replied sadly, returning the embrace with both her whole and machina arms. "I wish to Yevon I did, but I don't." When they separated, Siri nodded her head to the group behind them. "Introduce me?" she asked. "I recognize most of them, but not everybody." Lydia nodded and brought her over to the other side of the room by Paine's bed.

"Guys? This is Siri Kenobi. I told you about her. Siri, this is Yuna-"

"Pleasure to meet you," said Yuna politely.

"Likewise, High Summoner," Siri said, bowing her head in respect and shaking hands. Then Siri turned to Tidus and shook hands with him, too.

"I recognize you," she said. "You played for the Besaid Aurochs two years ago, didn't you? My brothers were the defenders for the Guado Glories. They're in awe of you." Tidus looked like he couldn't decide whether to be embarrassed or pleased.

"You're... Rikku?" Siri asked when she reached her. Rikku said yes and Siri replied that it was an honor to meet her. Siri then greeted Auron with great admiration and respect (the others seemed surprised when Siri said that it was an honor to see him again, rather than to meet him, but nobody asked), either not noticing or not caring that he looked several years younger than he should. Siri greeted Lucil, ("…one of the only other female captains I knew of. I always admired you,") Nooj, ("I've wanted to meet you for the longest time,") and Gippal ("My nephew says you're a genius with machina,"). Then she turned to Tristan, and Lydia noticed Siri look him up and down and raise her eyebrows in interest.

"You're Tristan, aren't you?" she asked. "Lydia's told me all about you. It's nice to finally meet a guy besides my brothers that I have to look up at, rather than the other way around."

Tristan grinned, simultaneously going slightly pink in the face. "Same here," he said. "It's nice to know I don't tower over everyone." They shook hands and she turned to Shinra and Calli, the latter of whom stood on her chair and introduced both of them.

"I'm Calli!" she said with a grin. "And he's Shinra." Shinra gave her a look as if to say "I can speak for myself," and said hi to Siri. Lydia watched Siri for any sign of surprise or recognition and was rewarded when she saw Siri's eyes go wide slightly and her posture suddenly stiffen. Nobody else noticed, but Lydia could tell that Siri knew (or at least had a suspicion about) who Shinra really was. Siri quickly moved on to Paine, saying hello and wishing her a fast recovery, before turning to them and explaining why she'd come.

"Issaru sent me," she said. "He would have come himself, but as you can imagine he's got his hands full. Baralai's trial has been set for two weeks from today. You all plus maybe a few others can come, otherwise it's closed court."

"Where is he in the meantime?" Lydia asked.

"That's more what I came here to talk to you about," Siri said. "The Chairman's original plan was to throw Baralai into one of those tiny cells in the dungeons next to the Via Purifico and leave him there for 2 weeks, but I put my foot down and demanded that he treat Baralai with some respect. They've locked him in his private apartment in the Temple instead." She paused and looked at Lydia.

"I can take one person with me when I go to visit him," she said. "You'll have to color your hair again and look like a Yevonite. Do you want to do it?"

Lydia jumped up from her chair so fast she knocked it over. "Of course I do!" she said. "When can we leave?"

"Now, if you want," Siri replied. "As long as you don't mind spending the afternoon at Anakin's house. We have to wait until the evening because I've got about a million things to do today, and we'll also attract attention. It's better to wait until everyone's retired for the day." She glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. "One way or another, I've got to go. I've got a debriefing to prepare for my Sub-Commanders. You coming?"

"I guess," Lydia said, looking around at her friends. "Guys? Do you mind?"

They all shrugged or acquiesced. "Go ahead," said Gippal. "Just tell him we said hi." Lydia promised she would and she and Siri left soon thereafter.

"You're being oddly quiet," Siri said eventually, as they strode through the streets of Bevelle. "Normally you never shut up."

"Isn't _that_ the pot calling the kettle black," Lydia muttered. "You're the one who's been staring at the ground for the past five minutes."

"Yeah, well…"

"You recognized him, didn't you? Shinra?"

"_Recognize_ him?" said Siri, in a much higher voice than usual. "Of course I recognize him. For Yevon's sake, he's my son!" Lydia snuck a sideways glance at her friend and saw that Siri's face was a mask of guilt and sadness.

"Where'd he grow up?" Siri asked. "How was he raised? Does he have family?"

"He's Al Bhed," said Lydia. "He grew up on Bikanel Island. His adoptive parents died six years ago. And from what I've seen he's a child genius. He's as good or better with machina than Gippal is." Siri's eyes filled with pride.

"There's one thing I've got to know," Lydia said slowly. "Because I think I recognize who Shinra's father was. What did he look like?"

"I try not to think about it," Siri said with a shudder. She closed her eyes briefly and seemed to be concentrating. "Brown hair," she said finally. "Very light brown. Almost sandy blond. And blue eyes. And he had this tattoo-"

"Let me guess," Lydia interrupted. "A green snake coiled around a staff."

"How'd you know?" asked Siri, shocked. "Who is he? Where is he? Does he know about Shinra?"

Lydia put up a hand to silence her friend. "Remember that guy I told you my parents engaged me to? Kiros?" Siri nodded. "That's him." _Now I can add being unfaithful to his poor wife and being a child rapist to the list of reasons I hate him_. "As far as I know, he never met Shinra or recognized him. And you can rest assured he's dead."

"He's dead? How do you know for sure?"

Lydia sighed. "I know, because Tristan killed him," she said.

Siri's mouth dropped open. "_Tristan_ did? I can't believe it."

Lydia allowed herself a grin. "Believe it," she said. "Did you notice that scar he's got on his face? Kiros gave it to him. He and his little gang attacked Tristan a couple of years ago and Tristan was the only one who came out of it alive." As they turned on to the street of roomy, two story brick houses where Anakin and his family lived, a thought suddenly occurred to Lydia and she chuckled.

"Think about it this way," she said. "It gains him automatic brownie points with your brothers. Once they hear that he got rid of the guy who hurt their little sister, they'll be all for him becoming their brother-in-law."

Despite the fact that she was still obviously upset and trying to process her new reality, Siri smiled slightly and her face turned pink. "Shut up," she muttered. Lydia just laughed and Siri blushed even more. Together they stepped up to Anakin's front door and Siri knocked.

The first thing Lydia heard was the sound of porcelain hitting stone, and a male voice swearing. Then a woman's voice saying "Anakin! Watch your language in front of the kids! Zell, get the door. It's probably your Aunt."

"Make Leia get it. She's closer."

"Leia, get the door, will you?"

"That's not fair! You asked Zell first!"

"Leia, Zell, I don't care who! Just open the door already!"

"Tch, fine. Keep your hair on, mom." A set of footsteps approached the door, which swung open to reveal a red-haired, golden eyed teenage girl—Siri's 13 year old niece, Leia.

"Aunt Siri! Lydia!" She exclaimed happily. "It's been ages since you came over!" She stepped aside to allow them in and shut the door. "Why is your face so red?" she said, looking at Siri. "Are you _blushing?_ Ooh!" She giggled. "Aunt Siri has a boyfriend!"

"A _boyfriend?_" squeaked a voice. Leia's 11 year old sister Ellone appeared. "Is he cute? Are you going to get married?" Siri opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

"_My_ sister has a boyfriend? The world must be ending." It was Anakin, coming into the living room out of the kitchen with his 4 year old daughter Serena on his shoulders and 9 year old son Zell trailing behind him.

"Good to see you, girls," said the dark-blue haired ex-Warrior Monk, putting Serena down and hugging them both. "It's been months. Don't you like us anymore?"

"Anakin!" said a voice. "Don't be mean. I might remind you that you were a Sub-Commander for eight years until you left last year and you were never home either!" A smiling woman stepped into the room. She was Anakin's wife Keladry (Kel, as everyone called her), a 32 year old human woman with shoulder length dusky red hair and green eyes.

Just then, a small pair of hands tugged on Lydia's arm. She looked down to see Serena, who was plainly asking to be picked up. Lydia did so and Serena asked "Liddy? What's a boyfriend?"

"Will you guys stop it already?" Siri asked. "I do _not_ have a boyfriend!" Once they stopped laughing at her expense, Siri explained the situation and explained what Lydia would need (Kel confirmed that there was a spare set of her own mage's robes as well as hair dye in the house). Lydia noticed that she was leaving out the issue of Shinra entirely, and Siri explained to Lydia in a whisper right before she left the house that she didn't want anyone other than Shinra himself to know just yet.

After Siri left, Lydia settled down with Keladry (Anakin had been shooed by his wife to the kitchen to clean up the shards of the plate he'd dropped) and asked what was going on with the rest of the family.

"Everybody's alright... Leia's going to start Healer's training next spring, Ellone's leaning towards mage training, and Zell is still adamant about blitzball." Then they started talking about Siri's brothers. Rowan was apparently in Guadosalam helping Trommel get the city back in order, and his Guado wife had just learned that she was pregnant with the couple's fifth child (they already had 9 year old twin boys, a 7 year old girl, and a 4 year old boy). Laguna and his Al Bhed wife lived in Luca with their youngest child and only daughter, and their 14 year old son was the Al Bhed Psyches' new goalkeeper. His 15 year old brother was in the Machine Faction. Seifer had chosen to retire from blitzball after recently breaking his wrist, and now lived with his wife and two young sons (a 4 year-old and a 2-year old) in Luca, not far from Laguna. Squall was seeing out the end of this season and would then join his twin. His wife Amidala (everyone called her Ami) was on forced bed rest after having early contractions with their baby. And Liam was apparently just as hard to get a hold of, fearful of commitment and settling down, and spur-of-the-moment as ever. "Everybody tells him he should find himself a girlfriend," Keladry said, laughing. "But I think it's going to have to be the girl that finds him."

After lunch, Lydia went upstairs to color her hair, shower, and change her clothes. When she returned downstairs with deep violet hair and a silver and black mage's robe over her clothes, Anakin and Keladry nodded approvingly. "You look good," Anakin said with a grin.

"Couldn't you have had any other color?" Lydia asked. "Purple hair will make me stick out like a beacon."

"No, it won't," Keladry assured her. "It's the latest fashion amongst the Temple Mages. You know how crazy we are." Lydia merely raised her eyebrows in reply. She spent the rest of the afternoon alternately talking with Keladry and Anakin, pacing worriedly across the living room, and staring out the window towards the Temple. Siri returned just in time for dinner, and the two of them left for the Temple as evening twilight was falling.

"Almost everybody goes to their rooms and dormitories after dinner, but in case anybody walks by just act like you belong," Siri whispered as they entered the Temple. One elevator, several corridors, and a few people later they reached the end of the otherwise deserted hallway where the door to Baralai's quarters was.

"Completely isolated," Siri said. "No rooms above, below, or on either side. And there are all sorts of silence spells for privacy."

"Take this," she added, giving Lydia a small handheld communicator. "I've got the other one. That way you can tell me when you're ready to leave." Siri took three separate keys out of a pocket, using one each on the two deadbolts and another on the simple keyhole in the handle. Lydia slipped through the open door into the living room of the luxurious apartment and heard the door shut and lock behind her.

Almost as soon as the door had shut Baralai walked into the room with a curious expression on his face. He looked more relaxed and less formal than in public—his signature green robe was gone, the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up and the top two buttons were undone, and he'd removed his boots and socks as well as what little jewelry he had (though he'd kept the blue headband, necessary to keep his hair from falling into his face).

"Who-" he began to ask, but stopped when she pulled back the hood of her robe. "Lydia!" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "What are you doing here?" He crossed the room and hugged her tightly.

"Siri let me in," she said, pulling away slightly so as to look at his face. "I'd like to think it's a good thing."

Baralai grinned. "Of course it's a good thing," he said. Then he gave her _that_ look, and Lydia felt a shiver run down her spine as he kissed her. Before she'd had enough time to enjoy the moment it ended, and Baralai led her to the sofa on the other side of the room. Lydia pulled off the robe and hung it on the back of a chair with the communicator in a pocket before joining him.

"How's Paine?" he asked. "And why is your hair _purple_?"

Lydia laughed. "Paine's fine," she assured him. "She woke up almost as soon as you left. She's hurting, as you'd expect, but she'll be alright. As for why my hair is purple, apparently it's the latest fashion with the Mages. Or so Siri's sister-in-law says."

"How are _you_?" she asked after a few moments. "This has got to be hard on you. Are you still going to follow Yevon and everything?"

Baralai shrugged. "I've been excommunicated," he said. "I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"Do you?"

Baralai shook his head. "I have abandoned my vows. To quote Gippal, I've 'thrown the rulebook out the window'. Gippal also once told me that the teachings were more like guidelines anyway, and now I think I agree with him." Then he laughed a little. "Tristan should be happy."

"He is," Lydia said softly. "And so am I." She looked up and their gaze connected, and he kissed her again. And this time, it went further. Lydia deepened the kiss and pulled Baralai closer, shivering slightly as as months of pent-up desire rose to the surface. She'd unbuttoned his shirt completely before he gently pushed her away and sat up.

"We can't," he said reluctantly. "I'd like nothing else more, but we can't."

"Why not?" she asked. "You're the one that said-"

"I know what I said about my vows," he interrupted. "But you can't stay here. Siri could be back any minute."

"You have a point," Lydia said with a frown. As if on cue, the communicator started beeping. Lydia jumped off the sofa and went over to the chair her robe was hanging on to retrieve it.

"Lydia," said Siri's rather annoyed voice after she'd activated it. "I hate to tell you this, but you're locked in. Cleon and Dunevon (A/N: Dunevon is the Chairman) put in some extra overnight security measures and didn't see fit to tell me. I hope you don't mind."

Lydia turned to face Baralai. "Mind?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him. "Of course not." She put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "As a matter of fact-"

"Uh-huh," said Siri's voice. "I don't want to know. I'm way too familiar with that tone of voice. I'll see you at 8 AM tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Alright," Lydia said. After bidding Siri goodbye she turned back to Baralai.

"I'd say that solves that problem," she said as she walked towards him.

"I'd say it does," Baralai replied slowly as he watched her. Lydia grinned as she noticed that for the first time she could remember, Baralai was allowing his eyes to wander freely south of her face.

"You said you threw the rulebook out the window, right?" she asked when she reached him.

"Yeah…" he said breathlessly, and Lydia grinned. She was definitely getting to him if he wasn't using proper grammar.

"Then start acting like it," she said, reaching out a hand to help him up. Something changed behind Baralai's eyes then and it was his turn to grin. He took her hand, stood up, and without warning swept her up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom.

Awhile later, Lydia let out a long breath and felt Baralai do the same as he fell back on the bed beside her. "That was… wow," Lydia said with a laugh. "Like nothing I ever expected."

Baralai propped himself up on one elbow and looked at her with a teasing grin on his face. "Since when would you know what to expect?" he asked.

Lydia giggled. "Jealous, are we?" She smirked. "Well, there was that one night with Issaru…"

"Issaru!" _Yep, he's jealous alright_.

Lydia struggled to keep a straight face. "Mm-hm," she said. "It was just one of those things, you know… and he's _so_ handsome…" She looked at the expression on Baralai's face and burst out laughing.

"You're so gullible sometimes," she said, leaning forward and kissing him. "I mean, honestly… me? And Issaru?" She made a face. "Trust me, you're my first."

Lydia and Baralai spent most of the rest of the night talking, making love, and at one point, pillow fighting. By the time the sun had risen Lydia had only gotten perhaps a couple of hours sleep, but considering what she'd sacrificed it for she couldn't care less.

"Wake up," she said, playfully smacking Baralai on the face with a pillow. "Siri will be here soon." They both quickly dressed, looking around the bedroom and living room for discarded articles of clothing.

"I can't find my shirt," Lydia said, walking into the bedroom where Baralai was combing his hair and putting his blue headband back on. She'd reclaimed her undergarments and pants, but somewhere along the line her shirt had gone AWOL.

"Wear mine," Baralai suggested, tossing the garment in her direction. "I'll look for yours later today." Lydia caught the shirt and put it on, taking enjoyment in having something that was so uniquely _his_.

All too soon it was 8 AM and Siri arrived. Lydia promised Baralai she'd try to come back again that night, and they shared a brief kiss before she put on the Mage's robe and left with Siri.

"So..." Siri said as they walked. "Am I going to get to be a godmother anytime soon?"

Lydia gaped in surprise. "Is it _that_ obvious?" she asked, looking at the ground and going pink.

Siri grinned. "Maybe not to your brother, but to me, yes," she said. "You were happy that I'd given you the perfect excuse to stay the night. I'm betting I interrupted something, am I right?" Lydia nodded and went even pinker.

"For another thing, you're wearing one of his shirts," Siri continued. "And though I've got no idea why, you have bits of feathers in your hair."

Lydia grinned. "Pillow fight at 2 AM. Long story." They continued until they reached the entrance to the hospital, where Lydia gave Keladry's robe back to Siri and made plans to meet her at the Temple entrance again that night.

"Do you want to come in with me and see Shinra?" she asked hesitantly.

Siri paused for a moment before shaking her head. "It's not that I don't want to," she said. "I'm just still kind of in shock. It's too soon. If I was Shinra I'm not sure I'd want to meet me immediately either. But you should tell him anyway." Lydia promised she would and hurried inside.

Nobody was in the reception area, so Lydia walked quietly down the hall to Paine's room where she heard several voices. She knocked and walked in to find Paine, Tristan, Auron, Rikku, Gippal, Lucil, Nooj, and Shinra all inside.

"Where's everybody else?" she asked, walking over and claiming a chair.

"Still sleeping," Rikku replied, looking at her inquisitively. "We all went back to the Celsius."

"Where've you been all night?" Tristan asked. "I was starting to think you'd been mugged, or kidnapped, or something."

Lydia folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes. "Since when do I have a curfew?" she asked. "I'm not a kid anymore, Trey. I can take care of myself."

"I tried to tell him you'd say that," Rikku piped up. "But _no_…"

"It's not like I didn't tell you where I was going," Lydia pointed out. "It turned out there was overnight security Siri wasn't aware of and I had to sleep there, that's all."

Tristan looked at her suspiciously but seemed satisfied. Rikku, Gippal, and Paine, on the other hand, weren't fooled. Gippal was snickering, Rikku muttering "yeah, right" under her breath, and Paine giving her a knowing look. Lydia went slightly pink in the face but ignored them, instead getting up and tapping Shinra on the shoulder.

"Can I have a word with you? Outside?" Shinra nodded and followed her, out into the hallway and away from the room to a deserted waiting room.

"What's going on?" Shinra asked, as soon as they'd sat down.

Lydia took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for the news she was about to break. "We need to talk," she said. "It's about your parents."


	13. Trials and Tribulations

(I completely lost this chapter through a blunder when editing the story, and I don't have the time or the memory to rewrite it, so the gist is this: Cleon and Dunevon don't like each other at all and Siri has to keep them in line, Tristan's been having inexplicable mood swings that Wakka thinks has to do with him being in love-Wakka and Lulu came to Bevelle for the trial-Baralai is found guilty and Tristan goes back to the Temple to get Siri to help them make a plan to save him. And while he's there he punches Dunevon in the face. Lydia runs off to the Cabin as soon as they get back to the airship after the trial and doesn't come out all day, and nobody tells her that they're making a plan to save Baralai in case it doesn't work. When she does burst into tears and runs off Lulu and Yuna go after her and Tristan is about to go too, but Tidus stops him and says it's "girl talk", and that "they'll tell us when they're ready". Lulu eventually reappears and says that Yuna is still comforting Lydia, but that neither of them are feeling very well. Paine just thinks they both have a cold or something, but Tidus says "Oh, no way. Both of them are?". Gippal asks Lulu and Tidus what they know that the rest of them don't, but Lulu is saved from having to answer when Yuna appears, saying that Lydia's sleeping. They all talk for a little while, then Tristan leaves to see Siri. And when he comes back, they stay up late into the night making their plans to save Baralai.)


	14. Day of reckoning

_Here he comes_, said Rikku's voice in her earpiece. Paine snapped her head up and looked around the square. From where she was standing (slightly behind and to the left side of Siri, Triock, Issaru, Cleon, and Dunevon) she couldn't yet see Baralai, but she was sure that Rikku (who was stationed at the entrance to the courtyard) had been able to spot him immediately.

_They just brought him past me_, Rikku continued. _His wrists are tied behind his back. He doesn't look so good._

_Of course he doesn't look good_, Paine thought to herself, rolling her eyes. _If you thought you were going to die you wouldn't be happy either_. She glanced around the square again, but could see neither Rikku nor anybody else. All of them (with the exception of Yuna and Lydia, who were staying on the airship with Buddy, Brother, Shinra, and Calli because they'd been feeling ill that morning, in Yuna's case, and kept ignorant for the sake of their emotional stability, in Lydia's) were stationed at various strategic points around the courtyard, perfectly positioned to act at a moment's notice.

Paine looked around again and finally saw Baralai, his arms bound behind him and a Warrior Monk grabbing each shoulder, being led to the raised platform in the middle of the courtyard where a lone man was standing next to a gallows. Paine's blood went cold at the sight, but her attention was diverted almost immediately by Siri speaking from in front of her.

"This is wrong," said Siri abruptly. "Baralai's a good man."

"He was tried and found guilty," replied Cleon dismissively. "He is bound by the Code of Yevon, as are the rest of us."

"He is a traitor and a sworn enemy of Yevon," Dunevon added. "And those who consort with enemies of Yevon are at fault as well." This last comment seemed out of place to Paine, but before she could figure out who or what Dunevon was alluding to, Tristan appeared out of the crowd. She watched as Tristan offered brief greetings to all five New Yevon officials, his gaze softening as he looked at Siri and growing distinctly cold when it settled on Dunevon.

"Nice sunrise," said Tristan, gesturing at Dunevon's face and letting slip a small smirk. Paine bit back a laugh as she watched Dunevon's hands curl into clenched fists. He wouldn't dare retaliate in front of so many witnesses, and Tristan knew it. Tristan left then, pausing only to wink at Paine and surreptitiously tap his pocket, and melted back into the crowd.

Paine reached into her items bag and pulled out what was inside—an Al Bhed flashbomb. They had briefly considered grenades the previous night, but Tristan had pointed out that flashbombs would provide the needed distraction with the added advantage that they wouldn't hurt anybody, just disorientate them.

Paine sighed with a mixture of dread and anticipation and focused her gaze on the stage where Baralai was now standing, her left hand clenched around the flashbomb and her right on her sword hilt. Any second now…

"Look," said Cleon suddenly, nudging Dunevon in the ribs and pointing into the crowd. Paine wondered what he was looking at, but her question was answered when Dunevon swore.

"Damn that Al Bhed!" He turned to Siri. "He's going to interfere! Get your men to do something!"

"No," came Siri's reply as she calmly crossed her arms. Cleon, Triock, and Dunevon all let out audible gasps, but Issaru brought a hand up to his forehead and shook his head in an I-knew-this-was-going-to-happen sort of way. But before any of them could say anything, the sound of a gunshot cracked through the air.

That gunshot—Nooj firing into the sky from his place near the stage—was the signal. Paine quickly pulled the pin on her flashbomb, tossed it so that it landed at Issaru's feet (he was in the middle of the five) then turned away and closed her eyes. A second later she heard the bang of not just one, but many flashbombs go off, and white light flared up against her closed eyelids.

Paine opened her eyes to see both spectators and soldiers staggering around, many of them tripping over each other and falling, all of them temporarily blinded. The five members of the High Court were no different—all four men were on the ground, and Siri, though she was still standing, was rubbing her eyes with her left hand and blinking furiously.

Paine looked towards the stage to find Tristan already on it and moving quickly. He freed Baralai, handed him a sword, and the two of them jumped off the platform and were sprinting for the balcony before anybody started to get up.

But get up they did, and all too soon the Warrior Monks were regrouping and closing in on Tristan and Baralai. Paine began making her way towards the open side of the courtyard and kept the two in view as she did, torn between admiration at how they were acting as a seamless team and fear that they would be captured or even worse, ordered to be shot right then and there.

Paine thought they would make it, but they were overcome just as they emerged onto the balcony area. Baralai and Tristan briefly circled, back-to-back with their swords up, obviously searching for an escape, but they abandoned the attempt and lowered their weapons when they realized what Paine could see clearly: they were completely surrounded and had at least two dozen guns pointed at them.

Paine edged through the crowd on the balcony until she encountered Gippal and Tidus (the others, she assumed, were watching from somewhere nearby). The three of them shared grim looks and turned to watch as Issaru, Siri, Cleon, Triock, and Dunevon approached.

Tristan moved to place himself between Baralai and Dunevon as the latter was admitted into the ring of Warrior Monks surrounding them. There was a long pause, during which Dunevon glared at Tristan and Tristan glared right back, then Dunevon spoke.

"I thought we might have to endure some kind of poorly planned escape attempt," said Dunevon, his voice trembling with anger. "But not from the likes of _you_." Tristan merely cocked one eyebrow as if to say "Your point?", and the lack of reaction seemed to infuriate Dunevon even more.

"I let you go when I should have had you arrested," Dunevon hissed. "And this is how you repay me, by throwing in your lot with _him?_" He gestured to Baralai. "He's a traitor!"

"I don't owe you _anything_," said Tristan, his voice dripping with contempt for the man before him. "You should feel lucky you're not in the hospital. And if you say Baralai's a traitor because he was _loyal_ to the woman he loved, I'd hate to see what you'd call yourself—"

"I might remind you," Dunevon interrupted, looking, if it were possible, even angrier. "That you're in no position to be insulting anyone. You are forgetting your place—"

"It's right here," said Tristan coolly. "Between you and Baralai, and anyone else you try to take your jealousy out on."

"As is mine," said a voice suddenly. Paine was mildly surprised (but not shocked; she'd been wondering when the Commander would speak up) to see Siri force her way into the circle to Tristan's side, take his right hand in her left, offer a brief grin in response to his raised eyebrows, then glare at the nearest Warrior Monks as if daring them to shoot their own Commander. A few of the men did hesitate, but it wasn't until Issaru commanded them to lower their weapons (Dunevon and Triock both tried but were ignored) that they did and stepped back, breaking up their tight circle.

"Siri," said Dunevon, in what was clearly supposed to be a placating tone of voice. "Listen—"

"No," Siri interrupted, her voice low and cold. "_You_ listen. You deserve to die after everything you've done to Baralai and what you've threatened to do to me and Tristan's sister, and if you've got any brains at all you _will_ do the right thing now, do you understand me?" _I can see why they made her Commander_, thought Paine, as she saw all the men looking at Siri with respect and, in some cases, a small amount of fear. _I think now's the part where you should just shut up and do what you're told_. Dunevon seemed to be thinking along similar lines, because he didn't even try to argue and when he looked up he seemed somewhat subdued.

"So," he said slowly. "This is where you feel your future lies? Away from Bevelle? Away from your duty to Yevon?"

"Don't you _talk_ to me about duty!" said Siri, with a surprising amount of venom in her voice. "You have no _idea_ what I've given up. I've lost family, friends, my home, my own son and even half my right arm, and I am _not_ about to lose anything else." Siri ripped the Commander's badge off her uniform and threw it on the ground at Dunevon's feet. "With people like you around New Yevon is going to fall apart. If Spira can unite and come up with an uncorrupted, secular military I'd be happy to lead it, but until then you'll have to find yourself another Commander." _You said it. I'm glad Dunevon's getting what he deserves_.

"Did you know she had a kid?" asked Tidus out of the corner of his mouth.

Paine shook her head. "News to me," she said, glancing at Gippal, who also shook his head.

"Lydia never mentioned it," he muttered. "Check out Baralai." Paine looked and saw that Baralai, while everybody's attention was focused on Siri, was backing away towards the ledge that opened onto a wide cove, the ledge that promised a successful rescue and escape.

"You don't have a—hey! Somebody stop him!" Halfway through his sentence Dunevon had looked over Siri's shoulder and noticed Baralai, but it was too late. Along with Gippal and Tidus, Paine moved to the edge of the balcony and looked down just in time to see Baralai's head pop out of the water, surrounded by a ring of white sea-foam that marked where he'd entered it.

"Idiot," said Cleon with a derisive snort, as Baralai started swimming out into the open water. "He's got nowhere to go but back here!"

"That's what you think, crundo (shorty)," muttered Gippal. The three of them looked expectantly to the left and were rewarded by the sight of the Celsius soaring into view from where it had been waiting, just out of sight of anybody in the courtyard. The airship swooped down to hover over Baralai, the ramp extended from the bottom, and two people (it looked like Buddy and Yuna, but Paine couldn't be sure from her distance) grabbed him and helped to haul him up on it. Then the airship turned around and sped off again, almost before they got back inside it.

Paine turned back around to find Dunevon opening his mouth only to close it a few seconds later, apparently too incensed to speak. Triock was staring at the ground and Cleon was looking at Siri as though he had never seen her properly before, but Issaru had a knowing look and Paine could have sworn he hid a grin.

Dunevon attempted to speak a few times but seemed to be struggling to find words. After several seconds he finally drew himself up, managed to get out a strangled "I'll be glad to see the back of you both", spat on the ground at Siri and Tristan's feet, then turned and stalked off, the hem of his robes whipping behind him.

"Where do you think you're going?" said Cleon indignantly. "You can't just leave! What are we going to do about Baralai?" Dunevon stopped and slowly turned around, and if looks could kill Cleon would have turned into a smoldering pile of ash right then and there.

"_You_ will do nothing," he said. "It is none of your business. Praetor Issaru and I will discuss it later." He turned around again and left.

Triock watched him go, then turned to Siri and Tristan. "I want to apologize," he said gruffly. "I always liked Baralai, but if I didn't give up his information Dunevon said he'd, er… you know…" he gestured hopefully, looking embarrassed.

"That's alright," said Siri with a warm smile. "We'll make sure Baralai knows the truth. Apology accepted." The two of them shook hands, then Triock made the sign of prayer and walked away (in a much more sedate manner than Dunevon had). Cleon stayed just long enough to say that Siri would be missed (not sounding at all like he meant it) before he hurried away as well.

"I would ask you to reconsider," said Issaru after a moment. "But knowing you it would be a useless gesture." He shook his head with a small smile. "I'll send word as soon as Dunevon has signed the papers for amnesty."

"Thanks, Issaru," said Siri with a grin. "You've been a good friend. I'll keep in touch, I promise." She bent down and picked up her badge from the ground. "I think you'll be needing this. If you want my recommendation I'd choose either Shaylie or Alec. They're both brilliant Sub-Commanders."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Issaru as he took the badge and pocketed it. "I want to thank you both. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. Tell Baralai I'm sorry for… for everything."

"We will," said Tristan. Issaru shook hands with them both, made the sign of prayer, then gestured to the Warrior Monks and walked away with them trailing behind him.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Tristan. "You've been a Warrior Monk for—"

"Nine years," said Siri. "Ten, if you count being a trainee. I know. But I can't stay here anymore. You and Lydia would be in danger if I did." She sighed deeply, then looked up at Tristan. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, we should… let's go." Tristan's voice rose with the last two words—it was the cue for them all to exit the square and regroup once they were well clear of it. It had been agreed that between the spectators and the soldiers, it would be reckless to all make a beeline for the same exit together.

With Gippal at her side and Tidus just behind them, Paine carefully weaved through the remaining crowds, heading for the exit on the north side of the courtyard. Once they emerged onto the relatively deserted city streets, they sped up and almost immediately came upon Lulu and Wakka. The others joined them in ones and twos as they took a route through the backstreets of Bevelle in an attempt to both get out quickly and avoid as many people as possible, and by the time they reached the gates they were missing only two people.

Siri and Tristan were already there, waiting for them. Both of them looked relieved, but Siri's expression soon became uncertain. Paine knew immediately what was wrong—Siri felt out of place, perhaps unsure if they would accept her. _She shouldn't worry. Everybody liked Lucil just fine._

Rikku seemed to have noticed Siri's hesitancy as well, because she gently elbowed her and said "So you're gonna be one of us now, right?"

Siri seemed startled. "I guess so," she said. "Assuming nobody minds…"

"Of course nobody minds!" said Rikku enthusiastically. "Tristan likes you, Lydia likes you, that's good enough for me! The more the merrier, right guys?" Everybody nodded or verbally agreed, and Siri visibly relaxed. She had introduced herself to Lulu and Wakka and the three of them had just started talking when the Celsius arrived.

Siri broke off in the middle of saying that Wakka reminded her of someone to turn and look at the airship. "It's even more impressive up close," she said with a grin. "I've wanted to fly on one of these for sixteen years, ever since my sister-in-law told me about them."

Siri's cheerfulness didn't last long. By the time they were all on the airship she'd gone quiet and looked distinctly nervous. Paine couldn't fathom why (_it's not like she hasn't already met everybody_), but forgot her curiosity as they emerged onto the bridge.

Baralai was standing there in the middle of the floor, holding Lydia and stroking her hair and upper back as she hiccupped into his shoulder, clearly having just finished crying. Yuna was standing a few feet away, beaming at them. Buddy was grinning too, from the seat in front of his computer. Brother was off to one side, trying and failing not to look pleased with the situation. Shinra was sitting precariously on the top of his chair, and Calli was reclined sideways on the same chair with her legs dangling over the armrest.

Baralai looked up at them, grinned, then whispered something in Lydia's ear. She quickly straightened up and wiped her eyes with her sleeves (Paine suddenly realized that she and Baralai had identical shirts on) before turning around. It made for a strange sight: although her face was blotchy and her eyes were red and puffy, she was beaming and looked like she'd never been happier.

Lydia immediately came up and embraced her brother, whispering an emotional "thank you" into his shoulder. For his part, Baralai came up to Paine and Gippal.

"Do you still plan to kick my ass?" he asked with a grin. Gippal stared at Baralai for a moment, then burst out laughing and hugged him. When they broke apart Baralai was laughing too, but his mood quickly sobered when he turned to Paine.

"I… I'm sorry, Paine," he said. "I wish I could have been there for you at the hospital. Are you alright?" For a few seconds, Paine couldn't speak. The anger, grief, and fear of the past two weeks, combined with relief and happiness that Baralai was alive and standing here in front of her, was rising up and threatened to overwhelm her. If she just stood there Paine knew she was going to start crying, so she obeyed the impulse to pull Baralai into a tight hug instead, letting a few rebellious tears slip unnoticed into his shoulder.

"I'm fine," she said, once she could trust her voice. "Miscarriages aren't all that uncommon. I got over it. You shouldn't be worrying about _me_ at a time like this, anyway." Baralai chuckled and turned to greet Yuna and Tidus. Less than 20 seconds had passed before Baralai came to Siri, who was hidden at the back of the group. Lydia turned around when she heard Siri's voice and her eyes went wide.

"Siri!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Out of the corner of her eye, Paine noticed that for some reason, Shinra's eyes had gone the size of dinner plates. Her full attention (as well as everyone else's) was drawn to him a few seconds later when he lost his grip on the top of his chair and fell backwards into Calli's lap, knocking them both off the chair and onto the floor. He got to his feet, wincing and blushing, and apologized as he helped up an equally embarrassed Calli. He then took a few hesitant steps towards them, stopped, and stared at them (not at them, Paine realized after a moment, but at Siri specifically) with a mix of what looked like the entire spectrum of emotions on his face.

There was a long pause, during which Siri stared at Shinra, Shinra stared at Siri, and everyone else in the room stared at them. The silence was eventually broken by Lydia, who said "Do you want to tell them or should I?"

"You," said Shinra and Siri together. Lydia grinned.

"Fine. You two go down to the Cabin then. You can get something to drink and nobody will bother you. Go," she said, giving Siri a gentle encouraging push. Siri looked between Shinra, Lydia, and Tristan for a few seconds before nodding and exiting the bridge. Shinra gave her a short head start then followed.

As she watched them leave the bridge, Paine was bewildered. _What in Spira is going on? How do they know each other?_ Then suddenly, it all became clear: same hair, same eyes, Siri had let slip about losing a son…

_No way_, thought Paine, too surprised to believe the conclusion she had just come to. _She's… what? 25? Maybe 26? More like an older sister. She's a Guado too. And a Warrior Monk. Al Bhed don't like to hang around Guadosalam, and definitely not Bevelle, so how… why didn't she raise him?_ Paine looked at Lydia (as did everyone else), now intensely curious to have her questions answered.

"Uh, Lydia?" Gippal asked eventually. "Why was Shinra staring at Siri like she had three heads? Since when do they know each other?"

"They've known _of _each other for two weeks," said Lydia. "But this is the first time they've met, not counting at the hospital. I made the connection that morning, when I saw Shinra properly for the first time." Lydia paused then, and Paine got the impression that she was steeling herself to say something. After several seconds, Lydia took a deep breath and continued.

"Siri is Shinra's mother," she said. "And… and Kiros is his father."


	15. Explanations

(Last Time): 

"Uh, Lydia?" Gippal asked eventually. "Why was Shinra staring at Siri like she had three heads? Since when do they know each other?"

"They've known _of _each other for two weeks," said Lydia. "But this is the first time they've met, not counting at the hospital. I made the connection that morning, when I saw Shinra properly for the first time." Lydia paused then, and Paine got the impression that she was steeling herself to say something. After several seconds, Lydia took a deep breath and continued.

"Siri is Shinra's mother," she said. "And… and Kiros is his father."

* * *

"Siri ec Shinra's sudran? (Siri is Shinra's mother?)" Rikku squeaked in disbelief. 

"_Kiros_ is his dad?" said Gippal, looking appalled at the idea. "But how?" _That's what I want to know. I wonder if Shinra realizes that the same guy Lydia almost got stuck with is his dad?_

"He raped Siri when she was twelve and a half," said Lydia, righteous anger creeping into her voice. "She got pregnant."

"Bastard," muttered Tristan. "I can't believe I ever lost sleep over having to kill him."

"You're not surprised?" Lydia asked, turning to Tristan with a confused look.

"Siri told me yesterday," he explained. "She said I had a right to know."

"Oh," said Lydia softly. A second later her eyes widened. "You mean _you _went to see Siri yesterday? Is that why she's here now?"

"Yep!" said Rikku before Tristan could answer. "And he beat up Dunevon too."

Lydia was highly amused. "_You_ beat up Dunevon?" she asked, laughing. "I bet he would have loved that. So are you going to tell us what happened or not?"

Tristan shrugged. "If you really want to know, I'll explain," he said, with an embarrassed kind of grin on his face. "I guess I kind of have to, otherwise what happened today won't make any sense to you." Once they had all sat down and gotten comfortable, Tristan began the story of where he had gone the previous afternoon.

"You guys all know—well, except for you, Lydia—that I went to see Siri yesterday because I thought she could help us or give us some kind of information so we could make a plan to save Baralai. What?" Lydia had just made a disbelieving noise and was smirking.

"Issaru would have helped us, too," she pointed out. "You just wanted an excuse to visit Siri." Tristan went pink in the face.

"So what?" he muttered defensively. "Anyway, I wasn't even sure where I'd find her. She didn't strike me as the type who spent much time in the Temple-"

"She doesn't," Lydia said. "She's got an apartment at the Temple as luxurious as Baralai's, but she never stayed there unless she had to. She liked the room and the office she had out at the barracks."

"Her brother was much the same when I knew him," said Auron. "Humility in Officers was always appreciated when I was a Warrior Monk. I can see why she became Commander at such a young age."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was _the_ youngest," said Tristan. "She's definitely the first woman and maybe the third or fourth who wasn't full-blood human. Anyway, she was still at the Temple when I found her. It didn't take very long, either. I think she was expecting one of us to come. We went to her room—shut _up_, Lydia—and she gave me all the information I showed to you guys."

"So where's Dunevon come into this?" asked Tidus.

"I'm getting there. Dunevon must have wanted to see Siri, because he came—I don't think he even knocked, I certainly didn't hear him—and he walked in on us…" Tristan went slightly pink again. "The point is, he saw me there and he, um, wasn't very happy, to put it lightly." Almost everyone laughed at that, and even Nooj and Auron looked amused.

"What happened then?" Lydia asked.

"Nothing at first. Dunevon acted like I wasn't even there. He gave Siri this letter from one of her Sub-Commanders, then he started trying to make conversation, he asked her to dinner… you could tell he was trying to hit on her the entire time, it was disgusting. She had to 'threaten to show him why all of her Sub-Commanders except for Shaylie were afraid of sparring with her' before he'd leave." _Coward. He probably couldn't hold his own in a fight if he tried_.

"Then, of course, after he left I figured it was about time for me to leave before he could arrest me for anything. I'd gotten maybe a hundred meters away from the door when he came around the corner."

"He'd been waiting for you," said Buddy. Tristan nodded.

"Exactly. He started giving me his usual rant, you know…. How dare you, you heathen… I was ignoring him until he dragged Lydia's name into it."

"What'd he say about me?" Lydia asked, looking curious and even slightly amused.

"He called you a…" Tristan went red yet again. "Well, he said you were one of those women who slept around, you know, and he said you'd seduced a perfectly good man and corrupted him from the path of Yevon and everything. Basically he said you were a worthless piece of trash." Paine could tell Tristan was getting angry as he recalled the memory. "Then he extended the analogy and dragged your mom's name into it too, Yuna, because your father was a Priest and he was excommunicated when he and your mom got married. He said that Al Bhed women period weren't good for anything except for… you know… satisfying the needs of Yevonite men." Lydia's expression became one of outrage, as did Auron's and Baralai's. Buddy, Brother, and Gippal were all gaping in disbelief. Paine herself was shocked that even someone like Dunevon would stoop so low.

"The nerve of him!" Rikku exclaimed, looking disgusted. "'Satisfying the needs of Yevonite men'…" she proceeded to mutter a long string of expletives, which Paine wholeheartedly agreed with (as did everyone else, judging by their expressions).

"How _dare_ him," said Yuna, who looked angrier than Paine had ever seen her. "How dare he insult my mother. Does he even _care_ that my father died, that _I_ was prepared to sacrifice myself so he could be free of Sin?" _Obviously not. He's even worse than Beclem. At least Beclem had some respect_. Paine was suddenly reminded of something Rikku had said to Beclem when they'd first met him—"Whose Calm do you think this is?"

"No, he doesn't," said Tristan. "He's an ungrateful bastard, but that's not why I hit him. I was restraining myself until he said that he'd treat anyone who associated with Al Bhed as traitors, no matter who they were. He said that if I cared about Lydia that I would stay away from Siri, and that if I didn't he'd make sure that the same thing that happened to Baralai would happen to Siri, too."

"Cuh uv y pedlr… (Son of a b10tch)" said Gippal, looking stunned and angry. "What kind of guy pretends to like a girl, then turns around and threatens to kill her when he sees her with somebody else?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Baralai. "I knew Dunevon was radical, but to do something like this…" he trailed off with a shake of his head.

"So what happened this morning?" Lydia asked eventually. "All I got out of Baralai before we picked up you guys was that you-" she nodded at Tristan. "Saved his life."

"Well, it wasn't just me," Tristan pointed out. "We all stayed up until midnight last night making up the plan. What's wrong?" Baralai had buried his head in his arms and was suddenly shaking.

"Nothing," came Baralai's muffled voice as he spoke into his knees. "It's just… it's all overwhelming. I was in shock yesterday, and it's only just now clear how close I came to actually… dying." He let out a deep shaky sigh and wrapped his arms tighter around his legs. Paine couldn't see his face to be sure, but she had a suspicion that he might be crying. _I wouldn't be surprised, and if he is I don't blame him. He's entitled to a breakdown after everything he's gone through_.

After Baralai recovered, Tristan explained their plan and exactly what had happened that morning, including Siri's resignation.

"It's so hard to believe…" said Lydia. "She wasn't even Commander for that long, either. You were the one that appointed her, too." She poked Baralai in the shoulder.

"That's right," said Baralai. "The previous Commander—his name was Jared Valorum—he wanted to make Siri the Sub-Commander of Macalania when her brother Anakin vacated the post at the beginning of last year, but it wasn't allowed. Three of the Sub-Commanders were planning to resign or retire at about the same time I became Praetor, and after I was able to get approval to change the law Siri was promoted almost immediately. She became the Sub-Commander of Bevelle, her cousin Shaylie was given command of Djose, and Aloysius Knight went to Luca. I made Siri the Commander when Jared retired six months ago, at the beginning of this year."

"I knew Jared," said Auron. "He, Anakin Kenobi, Kinoc, and I were all in the same group of Warrior Monk trainees. And his wife, too."

"Yeah, Anakin's told me stories," Lydia said with a grin. "He says you were the best fighter out of them all, but that you were so hopeless at magic that you set fire to yourself more than once, and you electrocuted the Instructor at some point too." Paine couldn't help but laugh at the images that came into her head.

"You did _what?_" asked Rikku, who was also laughing. Auron himself chuckled.

"Anakin shouldn't talk," he said. "He was a powerful mage, but his skills with a sword left about as much to be desired as my magic did."

They spent the next hour of the trip (they were returning to Besaid so Lulu and Wakka could get back to Vidina) trading stories. By the time Siri and Shinra returned, Paine had learned that Auron had met Siri and her entire family (including her late parents) at his swearing-in ceremony for the Warrior Monks twenty-one years ago, that Siri had lost her right arm in the same battle that had cost Nooj both his left arm and leg and Wakka's brother Chappu his life, and that if it hadn't been for a well-timed bout of stomach flu that had caused him to miss the registration day, Liam Kenobi would have joined the Crimson Squad.

"You're kidding, right?" Gippal asked. When Lydia assured him it was true, Gippal whistled. "Talk about being lucky," he muttered.

"Who'd have ever thought being sick would save your life," said Paine. "I wonder if he realizes how close to getting killed he came?"

"He does. I told him." Siri had reappeared with Shinra at her side, and both of them seemed happy. "He swore he'd never complain again, no matter how ill he got."

"Who did?" Shinra asked curiously.

"Your Uncle Liam. He has a sensitive stomach." The two of them crossed the bridge to Shinra's workstation, but not before Siri had looked around at them and gotten a thumbs-up from Lydia. They then started talking quite enthusiastically as Shinra showed off his inventions.

"You know, we could probably get a hold of some of your Aunts and Uncles on this," said Siri, when Shinra showed her the list of commsphere locations. "I know the one in Bevelle doesn't work because I've seen it, and Luca's too big of a city, but I bet you we could talk to your Uncle Rowan and Aunt Raine in Guadosalam." Shinra went through the quick process of setting up the connection, and Paine (along with almost everyone else) moved so that she could watch, curious to see one of Siri's many brothers. Lydia joined Siri and Shinra in front of the screen as it crackled into life, showing the face of a young Guado boy with spiky brown hair and gold eyes who seemed to be kneeling over the commsphere. Upon realizing there were people looking back at him, the boy yelped in surprise and toppled over.

"Loric! Come here! Aunt Siri's on the sphere-thingy!" called the boy once he got up, then he turned back to them. "What is this thing, Aunt Siri? Why are you on it? Where are you? Is that you, Lydia? You've got purple hair! Hi, Nida! Hang on a second, you're not Nida! Who are you?"

"Loran! Slow down!" said Siri, who looked like she was stopping herself from laughing. "Just hold your Chocobos for a second. Where's your brother?"

"He's right—here he is." A second Guado boy of similar age and height came into view, this one with hair and eyes that were both deep blue.

"Aunt Siri!" He exclaimed. "Why are you on here? Dad said that Trommel said that only the Gullwings use this… thingy."

"It's called a commsphere," said Shinra, sounding slightly put out that his cousins didn't appreciate his invention. "I made it."

"And we are with the Gullwings," Lydia added. Both boys' eyes widened.

"No way!"

"You're actually with the Gullwings? You're on their airship? Cool!"

"Did you meet Lady Yuna?"

"You still haven't told us who he is!"

"Yeah! He looks like Nida but he's not."

"He looks like Uncle Liam too, or maybe Uncle Anakin."

"I do?" Shinra asked, looking up at Siri.

"Yes, you do," she replied softly. "If you had brown hair and both your eyes were gold you and Liam would look exactly alike. And this probably won't be the only time you'll be mistaken for your fourteen year old cousin, either."

"This," said Siri, turning her attention back to her nephews. "Is your cousin Shinra. I know, I know-" she held up a hand to forestall the boys' interruptions. "I know you don't understand, but he's your cousin the same way Nida and Zell are. You just didn't know about him until now. Now can you two go get your parents?"

"Do they know about him—about Shinra?" asked the blue-haired boy.

"Yes, and so do your other Aunts and Uncles, but none of your cousins. Now shoo." The boys ran off, and Siri turned around to face them.

"Sorry about that," she said with a laugh. "Sometimes I wonder how they haven't driven my brother insane. Loric's too curious for his own good, and Loran's on a permanent sugar high." Paine grinned. _Doesn't that sound familiar_.

A few minutes passed before noise came from the screen again. Paine looked to see a Guado woman coming into view, who she immediately guessed was Loran and Loric's mother. She looked about 30 years old, had her sons' blue eyes and brown hair, and a slight bulge to her stomach that immediately told Paine she was pregnant.

"Long time no see, Raine," said Siri with a smile. "Where's Rowan and the kids? And how's the baby? How far along are you, anyway?"

"The baby's great," Raine said happily. "I'm about seventeen or eighteen weeks, somewhere in there. We wanted to wait a while before we told anyone else, you know, because of my past record. Anyway, the kids are with Ryelle. And your brother's around here, somewhere…" she waved a hand vaguely over her shoulder. "He's busy. Trommel left for Mount Gagazet to go talk with the Ronso Elder, so Rowan's in charge until he gets back." There was a moment's pause before Raine grinned.

"So…" she said slowly. "What's this I hear about rubbing elbows with Lady Yuna? The boys told me that you two and their long lost cousin have been adopted by the Gullwings."

"Their long lost cousin was already with the Gullwings," said Siri with a small smile, putting a hand on Shinra's shoulder. "And it's not just Lydia and me. Her older brother is here, too."

"Is he?" asked Raine curiously. "Huh. So this is my nephew?" She smiled at Shinra. "He looks like you. But how in the name of the Fayth-"

"It's a long story," Lydia interrupted. "Basically I met Shinra and put two and two together."

"There's a lot more to it than that," Siri added. "But it would take too long to explain it all now. We can come visit in a few days and talk then."

"I'm surprised you can get leave, what with New Yevon the way it's been," said Raine. "Weren't you-"

"I quit," said Siri. "If you're thinking what I think you are, yes, I was there, but we managed to stop it. Baralai's actually here on the airship with me. This whole affair was the last straw, so I resigned this morning."

"Well good for you!" said Raine. "I'm glad you're doing something for yourself." The two women talked for a few minutes longer, than Siri bade her goodbye with a promise to come visit, and asked her not to spread the news to anyone besides Rowan, saying she wanted to tell everyone else on her own.

"If it's not too much trouble," Siri said, turning to them after the screen had flickered off. "I think Shinra and I both-" she glanced at him and he nodded. "Are going to need some transportation over the next few days. Half of my family live in Luca, but I've also got family in Bevelle, Guadosalam, and Domremy (A/N: a village on the south side of the Moonflow), I've got a brother and some cousins at the Youth League-" she nodded at Nooj and Lucil. "And my oldest nephew is with the Machine Faction." A few seconds passed before Siri suddenly clapped a hand to her forehead. "I just remembered it's my sister-in-law's thirty-third birthday tomorrow too, so we should go to Luca first."

"I think I know your nephew," said Gippal. "His name's Kai, right? Blond hair, about six feet tall-" Gippal held his hand out flat, level with the top of his own head. "One blue eye, one gold eye?" Siri nodded. "Yeah, he's out in the Bikanel Desert. He says he likes it."

"I'm not surprised, seeing as he spent most of his life there," said Siri. "I don't think he was ever really able to adjust after Home was destroyed. He was always homesick. All three of the kids were, for that matter, but neither of the younger two were as deeply affected as Kai was."

"Can't say I blame him," said Buddy. "Speaking of which…" he turned around to look at his computer, which had started to beep loudly. "We're approaching Besaid." He turned back around. "Who needs to get off?"

Everybody looked around at each other and started talking at the same time. Eventually it was decided that Rikku and Auron would stay on the airship, Tidus and Yuna would go with Lulu and Wakka back to Besaid, Lucil and Nooj were going back to the Youth League, and Gippal was returning to Djose Temple. Paine had decided to go with him—it had been their original plan before the havoc of the past two weeks had come along and messed everything up, and she figured she might as well get used to it if she was going to marry him.

Lydia and Baralai had tentatively agreed to stay on Besaid too, but then Siri spoke up and said that they should come with her, Shinra, and Tristan (who had said nothing at all) to visit her family.

"Me?" said Baralai.

"Us?" said Lydia.

"All of us?" said Tristan. Siri grinned.

"Yes, all three of you," she said. "You're the one who found it out in the first place, Lydia, and you've got as big of an emotional involvement in the whole thing as I do. And you need to come along, Baralai, because my siblings are going to want to meet you. Lydia's long since been adopted by my brothers the same way all my sisters-in-law were, so they're almost as protective of her as they are of me. Same goes for you, Tristan."

Tristan made a strange noise somewhere between a laugh and a groan. "I'm going to get the 'hurt my sister and die' speech half a dozen times, aren't I?" he asked. Shinra, Paine noticed at this point, didn't seem at all surprised to learn that Tristan and his mother were romantically attached (she supposed Siri must have told him already). Rather than being shocked (or worse, angry) he had a part embarrassed, part unsettled, and part accepting expression on his face that reminded Paine of herself when she'd learned the truth about Auron and Rikku. _At least Tristan is still eleven or twelve years older than him. Rikku's younger than I am, and if she and Auron get married…_ She couldn't decide whether to laugh or grimace at the thought.

"Try twelve times," said Siri with a laugh. "You forgot about my sisters. All of them know what happened, and except for Alanna and Amidala they were already part of the family by the time Shinra came around. And you can probably expect a lecture from my Aunts and Uncles, too." Baralai and Tristan were both looking alarmed by this point, and Siri and Lydia laughed at their expressions.

"Now you know how it feels to be on the receiving end of it, Trey," said Lydia. "And you should be used to it by now for that matter, Baralai. You've had the speech once already."

"Twice," Gippal corrected her, raising his hand. "I yelled at him for you." Paine chuckled as she imagined Gippal playing the protective brother role, an idea made even more humorous by the fact that both the "sister" he was looking out for and her boyfriend were older than him.

As the airship prepared to land, Paine noticed that Lydia had pulled Yuna into a corner and that the two of them were having a whispered conversation. A suspicion connecting their behavior over the past couple of days, Yuna's on-off flu-like symptoms, and the inside information that Lulu and Tidus seemed to have sprang into Paine's mind, followed by a sudden thought—was she the only one who didn't know? She looked around at her friends, then chided herself for being paranoid. Gippal hadn't known what Lulu and Tidus had been talking about either. But then again, it was quite possible that he had been left out of the loop as well…

Paine sighed. She was going to have to ask, otherwise it would drive her crazy. She didn't really want to talk to Yuna or Lydia directly, so instead she walked over to Lulu and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked quietly. Lulu looked slightly surprised but nodded, and followed Paine several steps away from the others.

Paine hesitated for a moment, wondering how best to phrase her question. Unable to think of anything to say, she simply asked outright: "Are Yuna and Lydia pregnant?"

She could see the answer without having to hear it. Her best friend and her fiancé's cousin (and might as well be sister) were both pregnant; the latter must have become so in the immediate 48 hour aftermath of Paine's admission to hospital. She couldn't pretend that it didn't sting a little, but by and large she was happy for them. Particularly for Lydia, as she suddenly realized just how much the Al Bhed girl must have been suffering last night, and the situation she would have been in had Baralai died.

Paine started when she felt Lulu's hand on her shoulder, and looked around to see the black mage looking at her with an expression of kind understanding on her face.

"How did you find out?" she asked.

"I guessed," Paine admitted. "Who else knows?"

"Just you, me, and Tidus," said Lulu. "Not even Wakka or Rikku know yet."

"So does Baralai know about Lydia?" Paine asked curiously, looking around to where Baralai was standing with Gippal and Tristan.

Lulu shook her head. "No. Not unless she's told him since he came on the airship, which it doesn't seem like she has. I don't think her brother knows either."_ I'm sure he doesn't, because if he did he'd have probably given Baralai a black eye or something by now_.

After Yuna, Tidus, Lulu and Wakka left and they were on their way again, Paine couldn't stop smirking to herself. Her sense of mixed amusement and amazement was only heightened when she looked over at Lydia and realized that she was now the only person on board who knew that Lydia was pregnant, and that she knew even before the father of the baby did. She amused herself for a while imagining how everybody would react to the news, and whenever somebody asked her what was so funny she merely shook her head, enjoying the feeling of being in on a secret and relieved that everybody had been kept in the dark rather than just her.

They reached Djose late that afternoon, having dropped off Baralai, Lydia, Tristan, Siri, Shinra, and Buddy (who was apparently old friends with Siri's nephew Kai and his family) in Luca and Lucil and Nooj at Mushroom Rock along the way. _This is so weird_, Paine thought to herself as she and Gippal bade Auron, Rikku, Calli, and Brother goodbye_. Whenever I've been here before it was always with Yuna and Rikku, and now I'm suddenly going to be living here_. She was overwhelmed with a sudden feeling of nostalgia as she realized that between her getting married, Yuna being pregnant, and Shinra finding his family, that the Gullwings would never be the same again. The silver lining to the cloud was that it was all for good reasons—nobody had been betrayed, abandoned, lied to, or possessed this time.

Paine watched the Celsius until it was out of sight, then turned around to find Gippal looking at her with his head cocked to one side and an odd expression on his face.

"What?" she asked, grinning in spite of herself. Gippal opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off before he even started by someone who was clearly a member of the Machine Faction running up to them. It was a girl about Rikku's age, with sandy blonde pigtails and violet eyes. She had a pair of goggles perched on top of her head and was wearing a one-piece jumpsuit, and she was covered almost entirely from head to foot in what looked like oil.

"Gippal!" she exclaimed. "Dryhg kuuthacc oui'na rana! Nikki vunkud du clnaf dra viam lyb uh uha uv dra kahanydunc yht ed'c sygehk y rika sacc! (Thank goodness you're here! Nikki forgot to screw the fuel cap on one of the generators and it's making a huge mess!)"

"Ykyeh? (Again?)" said Gippal, in an exasperated tone of voice. "Ruf syho desac tu E ryja du damm dryd get… (How many times do I have to tell that kid…)" he sighed. "E'mm pa drana eh y sehida (I'll be there in a minute)," he said, waving the girl away. She left and he turned to Paine with a half annoyed, half amused expression on his face.

"You want to come help?" he asked.

Paine chuckled. "Yeah, sure," she said. Gippal grinned and grabbed her hand, and together they walked into Djose Temple, where Paine's new life awaited her.


	16. Announcements

When Paine woke up, she was not at all surprised when she smelled coffee—the machine was on a timer and had faithfully produced enough coffee to make one cup for her and two for Gippal every morning for the past week. What did surprise her was that despite it being only 8:30 in the morning, she was not the first one to wake up. She had fully expected having to drag Gippal out of bed, and wouldn't have even thought about attempting it for another half hour.

When Paine walked into the combination living room/kitchen/dining room that made up the largest part of the small 3-room suite, it was to find Gippal with his back to her, whistling cheerfully as he watched over the stovetop. Culinary skills were something he had that she most certainly did not—when they were in the Crimson Squad, it had always been him or Baralai making the meals.

"You're up early," she said, once he noticed her.

"Yep," he said. "I actually set the alarm clock for once. Aren't you proud of me?" He gave her a cheeky grin and she laughed.

"By the way," Gippal added, his blue eye sparkling with mirth. "Did you know you sleep like a log? You barely moved at all when the alarm clock went off."

"Hmph," Paine muttered as she crossed the room, a grin growing on her face. "Well if I sleep like a log, then _you_ sleep like a bloody shoopuf!" They both laughed, and Paine's laugh turned into a contented sigh as Gippal took her in his arms and kissed her.

"So when did Buddy say they were going to be here?" Gippal asked, once they had sat down with their breakfast.

"Half past ten," Paine said promptly, recalling the conversation from the previous day. "They've got to pick up Baralai, Lydia, Siri, Tristan, Shinra, and Siri's two oldest nephews from Guadosalam, then they're coming to get us, then we're stopping at the Youth League to pick up Nooj, Lucil, and Siri's brother, then we're all going to Besaid."

"So Liam's coming?" Gippal asked interestedly. "I've never met him. I haven't met Kai's brother either, for that matter."

They finished the rest of the meal in companionable silence, then split up—Paine to clear the table and wash the dishes, and Gippal to take a shower. It was nice, living like this, Paine thought to herself as she took the scouring pad to a particularly stubborn spot on the frying pan. Although they'd been there barely a week, Paine already felt at home in the Temple. She'd adapted to Machine Faction life quite easily, and her fluency in Al Bhed as well as a previously undiscovered knack for engineering had led her to be well-liked and respected, treated no differently than if she had been born and bred in the Desert.

By the time they had both showered, dressed, and Paine had gotten Gippal to help her tidy up (she was by no means a neat-freak, but was certainly more of a house-keeper than he was) it was nearly 10:00. They spent the remaining half hour outside in front of the Temple, Paine engaged in a sparring match with an Al Bhed girl named Kairi (a new friend of hers, who wielded a katana as large and finely made as her own), while Gippal and a handful of others watched.

So absorbed was she in the fight, Paine barely heard the sound of loud engines that meant the Celsius was landing. It wasn't until Paine had disarmed Kairi (just after narrowly avoiding the same fate herself) and the two of them were grinning with exhilaration and leaning on their swords for support that she heard cheering from behind her as well as the circle around her.

She turned to find a group of people coming out of the airship, of which she recognized all but two teenagers. Paine grinned to herself as she realized that with Shinra standing next to his cousins, the three boys were like steps in a staircase. The oldest of them, Kai, was blond-haired and a good foot taller than Shinra. Standing in-between Shinra and his oldest cousin was the next oldest one, Nida—his hair was the same shade of turquoise as Shinra's and Siri's, and he was about as taller than Shinra as he was shorter than his brother. If Paine had to guess, she would put their heights at just over five feet, 5'6" or 5'7", and six feet even, perhaps 6'1".

Paine took the compliments to her swordsmanship in stride, feeling particularly pleased when Auron put a hand on her shoulder and quietly said "you did well", giving her a rare smile. Introductions and greetings having been made, they all turned to go back in the airship for the brief ride over to Youth League Headquarters. When they got there, the 12 of them exited the airship and stood at the far end of the plateau, waiting while a young cadet went to get Nooj, Lucil, and Liam.

When she glanced over at Siri, Paine had to stifle a laugh. Tristan had a hold of her right hand, she had her left arm around Shinra's shoulders, and both Tristan and Shinra looked nervous. Kai noticed it too, and laughed good-naturedly.

"You haven't met Uncle Liam yet, have you?" he asked Shinra, reaching over to tousle his hair with one hand. "Don't worry, he's cool." Then his expression changed, and he looked sharply at his aunt.

"Does Uncle Liam even know anything, or is this going to be a complete surprise?" he asked.

"Oh no, he knows," Siri assured him. "I gave the Gullwings a letter to take to him. But this is the first time these two-" she gestured with her and Tristan's joined hands, and tightened her arm around Shinra. "Are meeting him."

"There they are," said Siri a moment later, pointing to where Nooj, Lucil, and a tall, slender man with light brown hair (who could only be Liam) were approaching them. "Go on. We're right behind you." She nudged Shinra forward, and he, Kai, and Nida went out to meet Liam.

Liam noticed them immediately, and after excusing himself to Nooj and Lucil (that was what it looked like, anyway) he separated from them and came forward to greet his nephews. Shinra hung back as Kai and Nida hugged their uncle, smiling and laughing as Liam looked Kai up and down in amazement and put a hand out at his neck before moving it up to the top of his face, clearly making a remark about how much Kai had grown. He noticed Shinra then, and seemed to be asking him something as he cocked his head slightly to one side. Shinra nodded, and Liam laughed as he said something else to which Shinra seemed to shrug. Liam's smile changed from amused to gentle then, and he took a step forward as he extended one arm, beckoning with his hand. Shinra hesitated for only a moment before stepping into his uncle's embrace, and Paine had to suppress an urge to say "Aw…" at the instantaneous ease with which they warmed up to each other, Liam immediately proceeding to put one arm around Nida and the other around Shinra, treating them both with complete familiarity.

"He'll make a good dad some day," said Lydia and Siri, almost simultaneously. They grinned at each other and moved closer to their respective boyfriends, Lydia crossing her arms protectively over her stomach as she did so and looking simultaneously worried, happy, and speculative as she glanced at Baralai. Paine caught her father's eye and realized that Auron had noticed that little by-play as well—they exchanged raised eyebrows, and Paine gave him a very slight nod when he put a hand in front of his stomach, then a tiny shake of the head when he looked pointedly at Baralai. Yes, Lydia was pregnant, and no, it didn't seem as though she'd told Baralai yet.

By this time Lucil and Nooj had reached them as well as Liam, Kai, Nida, and Shinra. Paine's first impression of Liam Kenobi was that he was a lot like Tristan, in the way that they were both quite handsome and had otherwise flawless faces that had been marred by an injury—Liam's was three thin scars that ran diagonally across his left cheek, clearly from a fiend that had once clawed him across the face. Liam hugged Siri and Lydia, shook hands with Baralai and Tristan, and assured them that he didn't have any objection to their relationships ("What? Don't look at me like that! I didn't say anything! Sheesh, you guys act like I'm about to hit you or something. Seifer's the one who's always overreacting, not me.").

"What?" said Liam suddenly, turning around to look at Nooj and Lucil. "Captain Elma's on leave? I thought you left her in charge."

"No, Captain Beclem is instead," said Lucil. "Elma went on leave to… visit Guadosalam." A subtle change in expression indicated that Lucil was very amused at this for some reason, but as Paine had no idea why she put the thought out of her head as they all boarded the airship to fly to Besaid.

* * *

"Hi, Yuna," said Paine with a grin. They had arrived at the village less than five minutes ago, and Yuna and Tidus had been the first ones out to greet them. Paine was currently scrutinizing her friend's face and figure, looking for any obvious changes but trying not to let Yuna on to the fact that she knew anything. Yuna's stomach was still quite flat, but Paine thought there might be a certain glow to her face that there hadn't been before. 

"Happy Birthday," she continued, handing Yuna her gift—a velvety cloak she'd been admiring when they were in Luca one day, in her favorite color of turquoise. Yuna took the package and thanked her, and Paine noticed a ring (braided silver with two small stones- one blue and one green) on her hand that hadn't been there before. But before she could ask her about it Yuna turned to hug Rikku, and beckoned Paine to follow her as they proceeded into the village.

By the time it got to five o'clock, the party was in full swing. Wakka and the Aurochs had built up a bonfire (on which large quantities of meat were being roasted), and all of the snacks and drinks had been produced to great success (perhaps too great, as Paine had already observed Liam Kenobi half-heartedly admonishing Kai and Nida for sneaking away alcoholic beverages before throwing up his hands and joining them, and Siri actually taking the drinks away from all three of them and giving them a proper scolding). She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Yuna was whispering to Lulu and Wakka, who promptly went away and came back with a few villagers who'd been around the Temple or in their homes. Paine could tell that an announcement (probably The Announcement) was coming, and sat down on a convenient crate from where she could observe all her friends.

To her surprise, it wasn't an announcement (not yet, anyway). Yuna announced that she was going to sing for the occasion, a song called "I will Remember You," that she had written a year or so after her Pilgrimage with Tidus in mind. (A/N: this is an actual song by Sarah Maclachlan. It has sentimental value for me—we sang it when I was in Choir in 8th grade in memory of two of our classmates who had died 4 months and 11 months prior—and I had a plan to use it earlier in the story but that plotline got scrapped.) She changed into her songstress attire in a burst of light, and after a few seconds began to sing:

"I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories."

All around her, Paine could see people gathering into small groups and couples seeking each other out. Gippal got up from where he was sitting and came over to her, sitting down on the crate and getting her to move so that she was sitting sideways across his lap. He held her legs with one arm and wrapped the other around her shoulders, and Paine put her arms around his waist and rested her head in the crook of his shoulder as the song went on.

"Remember the good times that we had?  
I let them slip away from us when things got bad  
How clearly I first saw you smiling in the sun  
Wanna feel your warmth upon me, I wanna be the one."

Looking across the fire, Paine could tell the song was a complete surprise to Tidus. He was watching Yuna with tears shining in his eyes, his expression a strange mixture of guilt, sorrow, and joy.

"I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories."

Rikku, who had been sitting on the ground next to Auron, turned to him and said something (Paine was almost certain it was "I love you."). Auron responded by putting an arm around her and kissing the top of her head, and it occurred to Paine that most of the meaning behind the song could probably apply to the two of them as much as it did to Yuna and Tidus.

"I'm so tired but I can't sleep  
Standing on the edge of something much too deep  
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word  
We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard."

Calli crawled over to where Shinra was sitting by himself and poked him in the shoulder. Shinra shrugged and grinned at her and she sat down next to him, mimicing his posture with her knees bent up and her arms around them.

"But I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories."

Lulu and Wakka smiled at each other over Vidina's head, who was lying on a blanket between them. They joined hands as they continued to watch Yuna, both looking proud.

"I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to lose  
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose  
Once there was a darkness, deep and endless night  
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me light."

Baralai looked at Lydia with a concerned expression and seemed to be asking her what was wrong. She shook her head and said something as she scooted closer to him, and Baralai tugged her into his lap, where he held her around the waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

"And I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories."

The song could apply to her, too, thought Paine. She, Yuna, and Rikku had all lost the ones they loved at almost the same time, and had gotten them all back after two long, painful years.

"And I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories  
Weep not for the memories…"

Yuna finished and took a step backwards as she looked bright-eyed around at the crowd, who were all applauding, cheering, and whistling loudly. She changed back to her normal clothes and beckoned to Tidus, who got up and joined her. She said that the two of them had an announcement to make and then looked to Tidus, who grinned and put an arm around her waist.

"I love Yuna more than anything," he said, to which Yuna blushed slightly and several people smiled. "So last week I finally got the courage to ask her if she'd make me the happiest guy in Spira by agreeing to marry me…" he paused for a few seconds, deliberately drawing it out. "And she said yes!"

There was an explosion of cheers and whistles. Rikku was jumping up and down, Auron and Lulu were smiling, Wakka was calling out to Yuna and Tidus with a broad grin on his face, various villagers were giving each other knowing looks, and the Aurochs were all laughing and giving each other high fives, saying things like "knew you had it in you, bro!" It took a few minutes for everyone to quiet down, but when they finally did Yuna beckoned to Lydia, and Tidus moved away from them so that they were the center of attention.

"Not only are Tidus and I getting married," said Yuna. "But Lydia and I have a different announcement to make." She looked over at Lydia, who took a deep breath (she looked rather frightened by this point) and nodded to her. Yuna squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and smiled at her, before looking back at the crowd. "We're both expecting children next year, early in the summer."

The reaction to this was even more extreme. Gippal abruptly stood up (dumping Paine unceremoniously on the ground in the process) and yelled "No way!" His voice was joined by Wakka's, who was expressing a similar sentiment. Tidus looked like he feared bodily harm, and seemed to be stealthily backing away towards Yuna. Baralai, after a few seconds of shock, had passed out cold, and a highly amused Siri was attempting to rouse him. Tristan was looking from his sister to Baralai and back again, with an expression appropriate to having been clubbed over the head. Liam's surprise had quickly given way to amusement, and he was doubled over in fits of laughter as he looked at Baralai's limp form and Tristan's shocked face. Auron's shoulders were shaking with what looked suspiciously like laughter as well, but as he had put his head down Paine couldn't tell. Rikku was jumping up and down again, looking positively ecstatic. The Aurochs were all snickering as they looked over at Wakka, and took it upon themselves to go up and congratulate Tidus and Yuna, followed by a few of the villagers.

Baralai sat up at this point, and after getting one good look at Tristan (who looked ready to either yell at him or hit him) he hastily put several feet between them (next to her, Paine could see a similar foreboding expression on Gippal's face and grabbed his wrist, giving him a warning look). Baralai got up and walked straight up to Lydia then, and before she could say anything he put his arms around her and kissed her. The cheers and cat-calls abruptly stopped when Baralai let go of her and held her out at arm's length, and in the ensuing quiet Paine could quite clearly hear Baralai say "I love you."

"You're not mad?" Lydia asked, hope and relief blooming on her face.

"Of course not," said Baralai, shaking his head. "I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. This is wonderful news." He hugged her to him, and when they broke apart Lydia seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time. She took him by the hand and marched straight over to Tristan, fixing her brother with a "don't even think about arguing with me" look.

"I don't want to hear one negative word out of you," she said. "Or you," she added, looking over at Gippal. "If either of you give Baralai any crap heads are going to roll, do you understand me? It was only half his fault, anyway." Tristan went red, and next to Paine Gippal made a face.

"Um, yeah," said Tristan, once he recovered. "Just be careful with yourself, alright? And you-" he jerked his head at Baralai. "Take care of her, or you'll have more than me to answer to."

Baralai nodded. "Of course I will," he said. "You have my word." He and Lydia walked off, threading their way through the villagers towards the town entrance, obviously intending to get out and have a little privacy.

Lydia and Yuna's surprise seemed to have been the climax of the afternoon, and with no more announcements things settled down and the party got back into swing again. Paine was in the middle of a conversation with Lulu and Yuna (Yuna was eagerly asking her foster sister about her own experience with pregnancy) when Buddy came running in from the entrance to the village. He looked around and made his way in Paine's direction, although it quickly became clear that his real target was Siri, who was sitting with Liam nearby.

"Siri, Liam," he said, breathing hard as he crouched down with his hands on his knees. "We just got a call from your brother in Luca. Apparently your sister-in-law went into labor a little over an hour ago."

Siri and Liam looked at each other. "Ami's having her baby? _Now?_" asked Liam, who had gone pale. "But I thought she was only six and a half months!"

"Seven and a half," Siri corrected him. "Thirty-one weeks, I think. But still, it's premature. This can't be good. Just after Alanna found out she's pregnant again, too." She sighed.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Liam asked, perplexed.

"Well, Keladry's had a lot of kids, so has Raine, but Alanna is her sister, and she and Seifer have been conceiving so easily, you know, and you know Ami and Squall have been trying basically since they got married, and they had that ectopic pregnancy and those miscarriages and everything, so Ami was getting desperate by the time this one came along and I think she was starting to resent Alanna, since Alanna was getting pregnant with no trouble at all. So what I'm saying is that if something goes wrong with this baby, Ami's going to be really upset and jealous of Alanna, and probably won't be able to be in the same room with her or Raine. Her relationship with all of them depends on this pregnancy." Liam looked quite scared at this bleak portrait of the possible events, and he and Siri stared at each other for a few moments before Siri snapped out of it and turned to Buddy.

"Buddy," she said. "We need to go. Can you take us to Luca?" Buddy nodded wordlessly, and she turned to her brother. "Liam, go get the boys. I'll find Tristan. Are Lydia and Baralai back yet?"

"As a matter of fact, they're over there," said Buddy, looking over his shoulder towards the village entrance. "It looks like they just got back."

"Alright. Tell them what you told us and ask if they want to come, alright? Thanks." All three of them went off in different directions, leaving Paine quite sobered and hoping for Ami Kenobi's sake that her baby was born healthy. She could sympathize a little with the situation Siri had just described, and as she looked over at Gippal she found herself pondering the idea of trying to get pregnant again. She could tell that Gippal wanted kids and would bring it up eventually, and she wasn't particularly averse to the idea, it was just that when she thought about people like her mother (who'd hemorrhaged to death an hour after giving birth to her), herself (she had, after all, almost died as a result of a violent miscarriage), and Ami Kenobi (whose struggles to conceive had apparently led to some tension between her and her more fertile sister and sisters-in-law), she wasn't sure it was worth it.

Siri, Liam, and Buddy had rounded up Lydia, Baralai, Tristan, Shinra, Kai, and Nida in less than five minutes, and it took them only another few to give the necessary explanations to everyone before all nine of them left the village. Paine found herself distracted for the rest of the evening as she wondered what had happened to Ami Kenobi and her baby, and it was quite a relief to go to bed that night in the bed Yuna and Tidus had set up in the spare room of their large tent and offered to herself and Gippal.

"So," said Gippal, after he'd stripped down to his shorts and slid in to the bed beside her. "Who do you think'll get married first, Yuna and Tidus or Lydia and Baralai?"

"Hm," said Paine, considering. "Yuna and Tidus, I suppose. Baralai hasn't even asked Lydia yet, has he?"

"Yes, he has," Gippal corrected her. "You didn't see what I did when they got back. Lydia was wearing a ring that used to belong to Baralai's mom."

"What?" Paine rolled over to face him, her interest piqued. "How do you know that?"

"Because he showed it to me a while back. It's practically one of his most prized possessions, because he doesn't have much that used to be his mom's. When we were in the Crimson Squad he said he wanted to give it to the girl he eventually got married to."

Paine smiled. "That's nice of him." A few seconds passed before Paine remembered the original question that had started the discussion. "I guess it could be either of them. Yuna and Lydia will have to work it out between themselves."

"Mm-hm," said Gippal. "So… when do you think we should get married?"

"Us?" said Paine, slightly surprised. She considered it for a moment. "I don't really know. I was figuring sometime this Autumn, but now that there's already going to be two weddings, it seems like-"

"Overkill," Gippal finished for her, nodding in agreement. "And it's never very popular to have a wedding during winter. So that means next year sometime, as long as it's after my birthday."

"Why after your birthday? That only cuts out the first couple weeks of the year, anyway." The New Year began on the 1st day of Spring, and Gippal's nineteenth birthday would be on the 12th.

Gippal shrugged. "Just because. If we did it between your birthday and mine then you'd be nineteen and I'd still be eighteen, and I've never been able to get over the fact that you're two and a half months older than I am. Call it my male pride." She rolled her eyes and Gippal laughed.

"Fine. _After_ your birthday, then." She rolled over so that her back was facing him, and Gippal put his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. She willingly snuggled close to his warm body, and murmured a goodnight to Gippal as he yawned and muttered something unintelligible into her hair.

Much later that night, when Gippal was fast asleep and she was half-way there, she started thinking about her and Gippal's wedding again. She had forgotten about it completely for a while, but the events of the afternoon and evening had brought it to the forefront of her mind again. A tiny part of her had feared, that first morning after her miscarriage, that Gippal might not want to marry her anymore now that there was no longer the obligation of a baby. He'd quickly put her mind to rest, however, and their relationship was even stronger now than it had been then. She didn't have a doubt now that Gippal loved her, or that he would take care of her and any children they eventually had. When she'd met him at Djose Temple a little over three months ago, for the first time in two years, neither of them had quite been adults yet. But since then they had both crossed some invisible line—they were mature now, and were both able to deal with the ups and downs of a long-term, adult relationship.

_I suppose I don't really care when we get married_, Paine thought to herself. _It's hardly the most important thing, after all. We will sooner or later, but we can wait awhile. We've got plenty of time_.

Yes, she decided, sighing contently she drifted off to sleep. They had their entire lives ahead of them in which to get married, settle down, and maybe, just maybe, have a child. They would do it all eventually, but they didn't have to anything right now. They had time—all the time in the world.

* * *

(The phrase "appropriate to having been clubbed over the head" comes from the 6th Harry Potter bok, when Ron sees Harry and Ginny kissing. I've been saving it to use in that scene for a while now :) Now since I've given you a nice long chapter, leave me some reviews!)  



	17. Autumn Wedding

"Lydia, you have to calm down."

"I _am_ calm, Lyra. You just singed my ear with the curling iron! Again!"

Siri's sister-in-law winced. "Sorry."

_That's about the fourth time that's happened_, thought Paine. _Lydia's poor ears will be burnt by the time her hair is done_. Paine was watching this exchange with one eye, while looking in the mirror as she attempted to pin her bangs back from her face with the other. After much pleading from her friends (which had been initiated by Gippal) Paine had been persuaded to let her hair down and start growing it out, and it was at the stage where it was long enough to get in her face and be annoying but not long enough to tie all of it back, the result being that she'd spent the last several mornings trying to come up with ways to make her hair look halfway decent.

Looking around her, Paine could see that several of the other women and girls in the tent/pavilion were fixing up their hair as well. They were all in Kilika, preparing for Lydia and Baralai's wedding. The two had chosen Kilika because neither of them had spent much time there before, and also because Lydia loved the warm climate. The ceremony would take place in the circular courtyard directly outside the Temple (thanks to Siri's cousin Shaylie being made the new Warrior Monk Commander, Dunevon finally being removed from his position and excommunicated, and Issaru being formally elected Praetor, they no longer had anything to fear from New Yevon and were welcome on the Temple grounds), and the party afterwards would be in the large grassy clearing between the old Youth League gate and the edge of the woods. At the moment the men (and boys) were getting ready in a temporary pavilion on one side of the last stone plateau on the way up the stairs to the Temple, and the women (including Siri's five sisters-in-law and six nieces—Paine had been pleased to see that Ami Kenobi was now the proud mother of a small but perfectly healthy 4 week old baby girl) were in another pavilion on the opposite side.

Just as Lyra finished curling her hair, Lydia suddenly put her head in her hands and moaned. "I'm going to be sick," she muttered. "I am really going to be sick…" she gestured frantically to a bucket in the corner, and seconds after Lulu placed it in front of her Lydia brought up the contents of her breakfast. She accepted a washcloth from the second youngest of Siri's nieces (a red-haired girl no older than four or five), a glass of water from Rikku, and after she composed herself she asked "Is it nervousness or morning sickness?"

"Both," said Lyra promptly. "And I speak from experience. When I married Laguna our wedding was in the exact same place you're about to have yours, I was probably at least 3 and a half years younger than you, I was in the first couple months of pregnancy just like you are now, and I was an even _worse_ nervous wreck." Lydia, Siri, and several of the others laughed. "And what made it worse was that I was desperately trying to hide the fact from Laguna's father, because we both knew Laguna would be in for it if his dad found out that he'd gotten me pregnant out of wedlock. The only ones besides Laguna who knew that I was pregnant at the time were my older sister, Siri, Raine and Ryelle, their mother, Laguna's godparents, and Siri's Aunt Xu." She nodded to Ami Kenobi and her baby, and Paine was confused until she remembered that the infant's name was Xu; obviously, she was named for her great-aunt.

"And my Auntie Lucia," Siri said after a moment. "She could tell, but she just didn't say anything."

"And Lucia," Lyra agreed. "None of the guys could tell except for Laguna's godfather, and he's a Healer so he had an excuse." She gathered a small bunch of Lydia's now curly hair from the top of her head and tied it back with a white ribbon. Lydia then got makeup put on her by Lulu and Rikku, and after spending five minutes inside a curtained-off corner of the pavilion with Siri and Siri's sister-in-law Keladry (who Paine had a funny feeling she recognized), emerged looking every part the beautiful bride—Paine had to admit she was impressed. Lydia's gold-trimmed white dress complimented her hair perfectly, she had matching white shoes, and was also wearing a gold necklace with a teardrop shaped green crystal for a pendant, and matching earrings (both of which were wedding presents from Alanna and Amidala Kenobi, who were both apparently jewelry makers and ran a small shop in Luca).

The next several minutes were spent with various people exclaiming over Lydia's and each other's outfits, and as Paine observed it occurred to her that of the four women who were pregnant (Yuna, Lydia, and two of Siri's sisters-in-law, Raine and Alanna), only Raine's round stomach couldn't be hidden by her dress—the other three weren't yet at the stage where it was obvious. Rikku eventually left to go see if the guys were ready to go ahead, and she returned five minutes later with Gippal, Auron, Nooj, Tidus, Liam Kenobi, and Tristan in tow.

"All the other guys went to sit down," said Rikku. "The Priest says he's ready when we are." At these words Siri's sisters-in-law started ushering their daughters out of the pavilion, and almost everyone exited. The only ones left inside now were the wedding party—Lydia, Tristan (who as her closest male relative received the honor of walking her up the aisle), and the Men and Maids of Honor (composed of Gippal, Nooj, Tidus, Liam, and Auron and Paine, Lucil, Yuna, Siri and Rikku). Once they were ready they all left and assembled at the bottom of the staircase that led to the Temple Courtyard, where Tristan and Lydia hung back as the rest of them lined up in groups of two (Paine was in front with Gippal, and behind them were Rikku and Auron, Siri and Liam, Lucil and Nooj, and Yuna and Tidus). Shinra and his cousin Nida came down to check that they were there, and after they ran back up Paine could hear the sound of voices quickly dying down.

All was quiet for several moments, then the music started—this was their cue. Paine and Gippal exchanged looks and Gippal grinned at her, then they joined hands and proceeded up the stairs.

The first thing Paine noticed, as she and Gippal walked up the aisle and separated to stand on either side of Baralai and the Priest (who was apparently related to him in some way, though Paine couldn't remember what exactly the connection was), was that there were more people there than she'd expected. Baralai and Lydia had made the most of the social aspect of the event, happily inviting everybody who'd wanted to come (with a few obvious exceptions). Besides Siri's family and their friends who weren't in the wedding party (including Lulu, Wakka, Brother, Buddy, and even Cid), Paine could also see a few Besaid locals, the Aurochs, and the Al Bhed Psyches. Issaru was also there (politics completely aside, he'd said, he was friends with both Baralai and Lydia and didn't want to miss their wedding) along with a number of Yevonites and Al Bhed (old friends of Baralai and Lydia, a few members of Baralai's extended family, and some of Lydia's more liberal-minded relatives). And taking up most of the third row on one side was a very tall sandy-haired man, a much shorter woman (Paine guessed they were about 6'3" and 5'3" respectively) with curly black hair who was presumably his wife, and seven children, ranging in age from early teenage years to a little boy no older than three.

Paine's eyes lit up—she knew those people, had known them for years—along with Anakin and Keladry (_no wonder I recognized her_, Paine thought, with a jolt of realization), Jared and Nina Valorum had been her unofficial guardians and the closest she'd had to parents after Auron had gone. She waited to see if Jared or Nina would recognize her, and was rewarded when Nina frowned at her for a moment before looking surprised, then beaming and elbowing her husband. Jared saw her and grinned as he waved, and Paine returned the wave with a smile. She wondered if Auron had noticed them yet, but before she could complete the thought the music started up again, and she turned her attention to the stairs.

Paine couldn't decide who looked more emotional—Tristan, Lydia, or Baralai. Lydia and Baralai both had expressions as though still hardly able to believe their good fortune, and Baralai, in addition to having a flushed face, seemed rooted to the spot—Paine could tell it was taking all he had not to let his nervousness get the better of him. Tristan had an expression that was a cross between happiness, pride, and nostalgia (Paine was put in mind of a parent wondering how a child had grown up so fast) and when he released Lydia's arm and smiled at her and Baralai it was with suspiciously shiny eyes.

From the moment Lydia got up to the front of the aisle and she and Baralai turned to face each other, their hands clasped and fingers intertwined between them, neither one took their eyes off the other. Paine found the ensuing ceremony quite interesting—although the traditional procedure for a Spiran wedding was followed the word "Yevon" wasn't mentioned once, and there were a few Al Bhed customs mixed in as well—at one point Baralai and Lydia together lit six candles, meant to commemorate people close to them who would have been there, had they still been alive. In this case it was Gippal's parents (who were also, Paine reminded herself, Lydia's aunt and uncle), Rikku's mother, Baralai's parents, and his younger sister Selene, who had died in a Sin Attack 13 years before, at just 3 years of age.

Their smiles grew wider and their eyes brighter as the ceremony continued, and whenever one of them was required to speak they did so in low, soft voices filled with emotion. And then, at long last, after they exchanged wedding rings, the Priest made the sign of prayer and declared them husband and wife. Baralai and Lydia stepped closer to each other and dropped their hands, wrapping their arms around each other as they kissed, and the crowd erupted with applause and cheering. Paine was as happy as any of them, and when she got to the center of the cluster that the wedding party was now forming around Baralai and Lydia she hugged Baralai, and when Lydia hugged her Paine returned the embrace—Lydia had become almost as close to her over the past 3 months as Yuna and Rikku, and now she was a part of Paine's "family" two times over.

* * *

Half an hour later, after the Celsius had successfully transferred everyone to the clearing and the party was getting underway, Paine started looking around for Jared and Nina. She spotted Jared almost immediately, standing several yards away with his back to her, but no sooner had she gotten in earshot when he raised an arm and called out "Anakin! Over here!" and the oldest of Siri's brothers looked around, grinned when he figured out who had called his name, and headed in their direction. 

"Shame on you, Jared," said Anakin, trying and failing to look stern as he pulled Jared into a hug. "Showing up late and making us think you weren't coming. You don't even want to _know_ how disappointed Zell and the girls were, not to mention Kel." Jared chuckled and apologized, and Anakin asked how he was doing. "What're your kids up to?" he asked. "Where's my godson?"

Jared pointed over Anakin's shoulder and chuckled. "Unfortunately, I think your godson is trying to chat up your nephew's girlfriend."

"_What?_" Anakin spun around, and after a few seconds burst out laughing. Paine looked where Jared had pointed and saw Calli, who was giggling as a dark-haired boy of about 14 (whom Paine knew for a fact was Jared and Nina's oldest child) talked to her, and Shinra, who was watching the boy from about 10 feet away, with his arms crossed and an expression that could only be described as jealousy on his face. After Paine got over her surprise that Shinra (whose 13th birthday wasn't for another week and a half) actually had a crush on a girl she couldn't help but laugh as well, but her attention was diverted when Anakin and Jared started talking again.

"Did you see Auron?" Anakin asked. "I caught a glimpse of him before the wedding, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him." Jared nodded.

"I saw him at the ceremony, but I don't think he noticed me. Speaking of which, we need to get Nina before we go find him." He and Anakin started looking around, and Jared finally noticed Paine standing behind him.

"Paine!" he exclaimed with a broad grin, and in three strides he covered the distance between them. Paine felt an answering smile come onto her face, and although she was slightly taken aback for a brief moment when Jared hugged her she relaxed within seconds, embracing her old mentor for the first time in over six years.

"Hey Nina, what… Paine!" Paine stepped back from Jared to find that Anakin had turned around and noticed them, and with him was the short, curly-haired form of Nina Valorum, with the youngest of her children (the sandy-haired boy of 2 or 3 that had been sitting on Jared's lap during the ceremony) in her arms.

"Paine!" Nina gave her son to Anakin and came up to Paine. "It's so good to see you!" They embraced, then Nina looked up at her with a grin. "Sheesh, Paine, I thought you were tall enough when you were twelve. Now look at you!" They both laughed.

"Hey, Paine," said Anakin with a fond smile, and he hugged her, too. "I think we were going to go find your dad, if you want to come with us…" he looked around at Jared and Nina. "Ready to go surprise Auron?"

The little boy in Nina's arms (she'd taken him back from Anakin) frowned, a puzzled expression on his face, before saying "It's not a surprise! I'm right here!" Anakin, Jared, and Nina all burst out laughing, and Paine was first confused, then surprised as she realized that Jared and Nina's son was named after her father.

"It's okay, Auron," said Jared, tousling the 3-year old's hair. "We were talking about another Auron. He's an old friend of me and your Uncle Anakin and your mom. You can come with us and say hi to him." Paine followed behind Jared as the three adults walked away, curious to see what Auron's reaction would be to seeing his old friends.

Anakin, Jared, and Nina walked up behind Auron and stopped a few feet away, looking at each other. Then Nina put her son down, walked forward, and tugged on the end of Auron's ponytail. Auron immediately turned around, and when he saw who it was his expression went from confusion, to wide-eyed recognition, to even wider-eyed shock.

"_Nina?_" he gasped. "I thought it was you, but I couldn't… I didn't…" he looked behind her to Jared and Anakin. "Jared… Anakin… It's been so long, I…" Auron's shoulders slumped slightly and his face fell. "You're probably angry at me," he said. "I guess I owe you an explanation."

"We're not angry," said Nina, with a broad grin. "And if any of the rumors I've heard over the past twelve years are true, I doubt we'd understand the explanation. Now are you just going to stand there gawking at how old we all look, or do I get a hug?"

For a few seconds Auron simply blinked at her. Then he slowly raised one arm, and when Nina hugged him around the middle with enough force to make him grunt in surprise and take a step backwards he hugged her back, a smile slowly growing on his face. Anakin and Jared hugged him as well, Anakin exclaiming "We missed you, man! The Warrior Monks were never the same after you left," and Jared quietly saying "It's good to see you again, Auron."

"I see you've met Paine already," Auron said with a slight smile, once he noticed her standing there.

"Yep!" said Anakin cheerfully, putting an arm around Paine's shoulders. "Our little munchkin got pretty big… she comes up to my shoulder now instead of my waist." He grinned down at Paine and she rolled her eyes, giving him a playful shove in the ribs.

"If I might ask," Auron said eventually, looking at Jared and Nina, the latter of whom had just picked her son back up into her arms again. "How many children do you have now?"

Nina grinned. "If you saw me I know you saw them," she said. "You just can't believe you counted right when you saw seven, can you?" Auron's expression became slightly sheepish and Nina laughed.

"It's alright," she said. "But yes, we do have seven. You remember Erik, obviously-"

"And he'd better remember Edea, seeing as he's her godfather…" Jared added, his violet eyes twinkling.

Auron nodded. "She was the one sitting next to you, with the dark hair?" he asked Nina, who smiled.

"Mm-hm. She can't wait to meet you. So we had Erik and Edea, then we had 4 more girls, and this is our little guy-" she grinned at her son. "Who also happens to be your namesake."

Auron looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Nina looked at her son. "See, Auron? This is mommy and daddy's friend that you were named after."

The little boy looked at Auron for several seconds, then finally said "You're tall." Auron chuckled and smiled kindly at the three year old.

"I might look tall to you," he said. "But your father's even taller than I am."

"And your Uncle Anakin's even taller than _me_," Jared added, to which all of them laughed. Jared opened his mouth to speak again, but abruptly frowned and turned around, stepping back as he did so to reveal the figure of Siri's sister-in-law Keladry, who was looking at him with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, as if waiting for him to explain himself.

"Kel!" he exclaimed, one hand going to the back of his neck in a way that suddenly reminded Paine strongly of Gippal. "Um… the boat was late? It wasn't my fault?" Keladry rolled her eyes and smiled as she hugged him, then her eyes went wide when she looked past him.

"Auron!" she gasped. Then she saw Paine, and her eyes got even wider. "Paine?" she asked, sounding as though she already knew the answer. Paine nodded, and Keladry beamed.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" she exclaimed, with the air of an excited child. "I knew I recognized you! You got so tall… I remember when you were like this-" she put out a hand at waist level. "I never imagined you'd be bigger than me." Paine smiled slightly, in equal parts embarrassed and pleased with the attention.

"I'm not bigger than you," she said eventually. "I think we're both the same height." Paine knew for a fact that she was 5'9", and Keladry looked about that tall. At this point she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned halfway around to see Gippal offering her a cup of punch, his eyes flicking curiously between the older adults.

Paine accepted the cup and took Gippal's hand, wondering how to introduce him. Four sets of eyes flickered to their interlaced fingers, and before Paine could say anything Nina grinned and asked "Your boyfriend?" Gippal's eyebrows went up and he looked at Auron and Paine questioningly.

"Old friends of mine," Auron explained, and Gippal's expression changed to understanding. Turning back to Anakin, Keladry, Jared, and Nina Auron said "Her fiancé, actually. Which reminds me, there's someone else you should meet…" he excused himself and walked off, presumably in search of Rikku, but his friends barely noticed his departure.

"You're engaged?" Keladry and Nina exclaimed almost simultaneously. When Paine nodded and extended her right arm, the two women beamed and leaned forward to look at her engagement ring. Jared and Anakin hung back a little, looking Gippal up and down and having what looked like a telepathic conversation, and after a few seconds they evidently decided they approved of him, for they smiled and stepped forward to congratulate him and Paine.

The 8 of them (Auron had returned with Rikku and introduced her) spent the next half hour talking and catching up with each other, and Keladry had just re-introduced Paine to her two oldest daughters (whom she hadn't seen since they were 7 and 5 years old respectively) when Paine noticed Liam Kenobi running in their direction. He was bent almost double, presumably to make sure his six foot-three inch frame wasn't noticed in the crowd by anybody who might be looking for him, and Paine wasn't surprised to see him dodge behind the tallest person in the immediate vicinity, which happened to be his older brother.

"Anakin! Hide me!" Liam hissed, dropping to a crouch behind Anakin's legs. Everybody abruptly stopped talking and Anakin turned around to look down at Liam, one eyebrow raised and a thoroughly bemused expression on his face.

"Liam, what _are_ you doing?" Anakin asked, laughter bubbling just below the surface of his voice.

"Hide you from who?" Keladry's daughter Ellone added curiously.

"Leblanc. She's after me!" Liam cautiously poked his head out from behind his brother's legs, but hastily withdrew it and curled himself into a ball on the grass. Paine turned in the direction Liam had been looking and saw that Leblanc was indeed there, and was definitely looking around for something… or someone. Paine's first thought was _She seems to have gotten over Nooj_. Then she looked at Liam, made eye contact with Rikku, and they both burst out laughing, to the complete bewilderment of Liam and everyone else.

"Oh… you poor thing…" said Rikku, in-between her giggles. "Good luck…" Liam still looked bewildered, and Paine decided to take pity on him.

"She likes you," Paine said bluntly. "You're… um…"

"Her new target?" Rikku suggested, before dissolving into giggles again. Anakin made an astonished noise, looked from Liam to Leblanc and back again, and started chuckling, a mixture of sympathy and amusement on his face. For his part, Liam went beet red and seemed to choke for a few seconds before speaking.

"Well… she's, uh…" Liam cocked his head to one side, looking embarrassed. "I mean, she's cute and all, but she's a bit…" he trailed off with a vague half-shrug.

_Annoying? Underdressed? Bossy?_ "She tends to have that affect on people," Paine said with a nod, able to tell from Liam's expression the general direction of his thoughts.

"She's not that bad, really," Rikku added. "Once you get to know her. Just don't make her mad." Liam shot her a look as if to say _Oh, THAT'S helpful_, but before he could speak Anakin hauled him to his feet despite his protests.

"Come on, Squirt," said Anakin cheerfully, putting an arm around Liam's shoulders. "You can't stay a bachelor forever. By the time I was your age I was already married with two kids. You need a girlfriend, anyway." And with that Anakin firmly marched his brother off in Leblanc's direction, to the general amusement of everyone who'd been watching.

"What just happened?" Lydia had come to join them, and was looking after Liam and Anakin with an expression of amused curiosity. Her grin grew wider as Keladry and Rikku explained, and at the end she burst out laughing.

"That poor boy…" she said. "Sometimes I forget he's older than me. And you were the one who was saying not even two months ago that it would have to be the girl that found him, weren't you?" She was looking at Keladry, who grinned and nodded.

"Anyway," Lydia continued. "We need you guys for pictures. We've obviously got to have one of the Wedding Party, and I wanted at least one of the seven of them, too." She gestured in the direction Anakin had gone. Keladry nodded and said she would go "rescue" Liam, promptly walking off in that direction, and with a glance over her shoulder at them Paine followed Lydia and the others to where the photographer was waiting.

* * *

Early that evening, when dusk was beginning to fall and strings of lights had been lit, Paine was dancing with Baralai when Gippal came up and asked to cut in. Baralai happily obliged and walked over to join his wife at the buffet table, and once he had Paine to himself Gippal kissed her thoroughly. 

"Are you drunk?" Paine asked him, one eyebrow raised and a slight grin on her face as Gippal pulled away from her.

"Maybe," he replied with a smirk. "Or maybe I just want to get laid." Paine's eyebrows shot up involuntarily and Gippal laughed.

"Nah," he said after a few moments. "It'd depend on your definition of drunk. I'm still coherent, aren't I?" He grinned at her and Paine couldn't help but laugh at him.

"So anyway," Gippal said, as he placed his hands at her waist. "What about you?"

Paine was startled at the question. "Me? No. I haven't had anything but water and punch all day." _And there's a good reason why, too_, Paine thought, as she put her arms around his neck and they swayed to the slow music that had just come on. Maybe _now is a good time_—but her train of thought was interrupted when Gippal spoke.

"Sometimes I think this is too good to be true, you know?" he said quietly. Paine cocked her head to one side as she looked at him, feeling oddly touched by the intensity of his expression.

"This, what?" she asked curiously. Gippal shrugged and waved his hand vaguely around them.

"Just, all this," he said. "You, Nooj, Baralai and Lydia… I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and be in a tent on Bikanel Island, celebrating my 17th birthday all by myself." He looked her in the face, and his blue eye was bright and sparkling. "You've got no idea how happy I was to see you again."

Paine nodded. "Me, too," she said. "I know I didn't act like it, but I was just annoyed that you were flirting with Yuna." Gippal grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry about that," he said with a chuckle. Something in his expression changed then and he hugged her to him, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her forehead. "I love you," he said softly.

"I know," Paine half-whispered in reply. She came to a sudden decision then, and before she could lose her nerve she stepped back from Gippal and took one of his hands in hers.

"I've got a surprise for you," she said, placing his hand on her still-flat stomach. Gippal looked at her and his face lit up.

"You do, do you?" he said.

And the world was all around them, alive with possibility.

**THE END**

(It's finally done! Thanks to everybody who reviewed and stuck with me these past 21 months or so. Everybody who read this story should now go and start reading—and reviewing—my other story, Golden Child, which you can find on my profile page. It starts as a prequel to this one, centering around Siri, but Paine & Co. will appear eventually and it's going to provide a whole lot of backstory, not to mention what happens to all the characters after the end of this one. So if you want your curiosity to be satisfied, you should go read it. See you again with my next project!)


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